Harry Potter in a Different World
by RebeccaSeverusSnape
Summary: After being doused in a deaging potion and hit with a dark spell, Harry Potter is sent back in time to the Marauders Era, the only problem; he has no idea who he is. Things are a little different; Gellert Grindelwald is the current Dark Lord not Voldemort
1. The Spell

**Summary: **After being doused in a De-Aging potion and hit with a Dark Spell, Harry Potter is sent back in time to a Different World not of his own, the only problem; he has no idea who he is. What is he to make of this new world? And will he ever get back if he discovers who he truly is?

**Warnings: **Rated K+ to T just to be safe as I'm not too sure yet, it may change as the story progresses. Minor use of offensive language and verbal abuse/bullying in later chapters.

**Disclaimer:**I do not own anything to do with Harry Potter, it belongs to JK Rowling.

Harry Potter in a Different World-Chapter 1 The Spell

Fifteen year old Harry Potter was not having a good day. In fact, he was having a damn right awful day to be truly honest. Firstly, his best friend Ron had failed to wake him up for breakfast, he then proceeded to slip in the shower, falling flat on his back while to reaching for the shampoo, luckily he had managed to grab hold of the shower curtain as he fell otherwise he would be held captive by Madam Pomfrey in the hospital wing for having broken something. He then tripped on his robes flying headfirst into Deans four poster bed, after detangling a smelly red sock from his head he attempted to tame said unruly mop; without much success.

By the time Harry had jumped over Mrs Norris on the 2nd floor and sprinted on to the Great Hall for breakfast, he was already 10 minutes late for his first lesson. And it just happened to be Potions with his most hated professor; Professor Snape, who just seemed to hate him, no, Snape seemed to loath him with a passion for which Harry couldn't understand except that it had something to do with his father.

Grabbing the nearest piece of food, which happened to be an apple on the Hufflepuff table, Harry raced to the dungeons chewing furiously resulting in the juice dripping down his chin. Coming to a halt outside the classroom Harry glanced at his watch. Damn. He was now 20 minutes late. _Snape's going to kill me_, Harry thought while wiping his chin with the hem of his robe.

Harry knocked on the door and slowly entered the classroom. _Yep_, Harry thought. _Snape's going to kill me_. As Snape looked up from his desk, Harry could see that his professor's face was slowly turning from his normal pale complexion to red with rage. His mouth was twisted in a cold evil smile as he stood up from his desk, his eyes glittering in undisguised hate.

"Well, well, well...If it isn't Harry Potter. How glad we are for the Boy-Who-Lived to finally grace us with his presence." The Slytherin's badly muffled laughter echoed throughout the classroom while the Gryffindors were torn between glaring at the Slytherin's and shooting him pitying glances while Ron, who Harry saw, was trying to sink into his seat, the tip of his ears turning red.

Harry took a deep breath. "Sorry I'm late Sir, I was..."

"SILENCE!" Snape barked. He swooped round his desk, robes billowing dramatically behind him. Making him look as if he was gliding across the classroom. Standing directly in front of Harry, his eyes narrowed and his mouth twisted like he had swallowed something unpleasant.

"I for one do not want to hear your pitiful excuses as to why you are late to my lesson. You will have a weeks worth of detention, with Filtch, including the weekend. Oh yes Potter" Seeing that Harry was going to interrupt, he stood straighter addressing the whole class with his sharp cold voice echoed throughout the dungeons.

"Including the weekend. What a shame. Potter will miss Quidditch, no Quidditch cup for Gryffindor this year I think... Sit down and I want a 3 foot essay on the properties and functions of the melloacidic potion seeing as you too late to start brewing a de-aging potion like the rest of your peers" Snape sneered, and with that, Snape stalked back to the front of the classroom and sat back down at his desk.

Stomping to his seat next to Ron. He slammed his bag down and dug in his satchel for a piece of parchment, quill and ink.

"Oh and Potter...50 points from Gryffindor for being late and a further 10 for being disruptive". Harry refused to look up. If he did, he wasn't sure if he could stop himself from snapping at Snape saying that if it was one of is precious Slytherin's that was late he wouldn't take 50 points or get a detention. So Harry settled to glaring at his parchment instead while trying to ignore the Slytherin's who were still quietly laughing.

Harry caught Ron's eye as he was adding the crushed lacewing flies into his cauldron and he whispered "I'm really sorry mate. I was up late myself and I totally forgot to wake you."

Smiling kindly at his best friend who obviously feared that Harry was going to snap at him he said "It's alright Ron. Don't worry about it."

Malfoy who was watching the exchange with amusement whispered "Hey Potter, how's dear Weasel going to cope without you holding his hand. Hell, he might even need you glasses Potter so that the Weasel will be able to see the quaffle seeing as he can't afford his own. I'm not surprised though, have you seen the size of his mother? She probably spends all the money they get on food." The neighbouring Slytherines snickered while the Gryffindors glared at them. Snape, unsurprisingly hadn't said anything.

Ron, who had bristled with anger at the obvious insult to his mother and the dig at the fact that his family have little money, he couldn't control the famous Weasley temper and took out his wand and shouted "Shut it Malfoy! Don't you dare say another word against my mother! Have you seen the state of yours? Does she always look like there's something foul under her nose? Or is it just because your presence repulses her?" Malfoy then shot up from his seat, the noise of the stool hitting the stone floor gaining finally attention of Snape who had suddenly looked up at the noise.

"You'll pay for that Weasley," Malfoy sneered. "Let's see how you like this!" With that he raised his wand.

"WEASLEY, MALFOY SEECE THIS BEHAVIOR AT ONCE! PUT YOUR WANDS AWAY OR YOU'LL BOTH FACE EXPULSITION!" Snape bellowed, spittle flying everywhere.

But neither Ron nor Draco made any direction to comply with the potion masters instructions.

Suddenly, three things happened at once which would consequently lead the entire wizarding world into shock and devastation.

Malfoy whose wand was raised confidently in front of him shouted "_Nella potenza dei dodici Dei, ti mando indietro al tempo sconosciuto!" _And with that a beam of green light followed by line of silver and gold intertwined had erupted from his wand and headed straight for Ron.

Harry, who hadn't recognised the incantation that Malfoy had spoken but it defiantly wasn't English or Latin, was paralysed with shock and felt a sudden rush of fear and nausea as he saw a green light erupt from Malfoys' wand and headed straight towards Ron who still hadn't moved. Fearing for his best friend's life-Harry shot up off his seat with and collided with Ron who had suddenly ducked as soon as Harry got up off his seat, knocking his de-aging potion all over the desk and in turn all over Harry.

The green light which now had a glow of gold and silver hit Harry instead of Ron. The spell had ignited the potion that was splashed in Harry's robes which left Harry screaming and writhing in pain as he dropped to the floor in a shower of electric purple and silver flames.

The class watched in a mixture of horror and shock as Harry continued to scream on the floor, clawing at the stone floors with tears escaping from his closed eyes.

Snape was frozen in fear. He knew what that spell did, as he was one of those involved in creating new spells for the Dark Lord as he was fluent in many different languages that others wouldn't know, as the dominate language for creating spells was Latin. There was no possibility of stopping the spell, and mixed with the de-aging potion. He dreaded to think what would happen, as so he could only close his eyes and wait for whatever was to happen to stop.

Harry had stopped screaming and was now whimpering and he started to curl himself into a ball as he started to shrink. The purple and silver flames were now gone, and Harry was now surrounded by a faint white glow and had started to hover two foot in the air. Firstly his arms started to shrink and then his legs with loud cracks as the bones were snapped and shrunk, this was followed by his entire body which came to resemble that of a 5 year old. His hair grew shorter but seemingly more silky and tameable; his nose grew smaller and had little dimples in both cheeks. A stronger more prominent white glow had began to embrace his head and continued to wrap his neck, back and down his arms and legs until all that could been seen was an immense white glow that hovered in the air. It sent off waves of magical energy which made the occupants in the room tremble and the vials of potions on the shelves rattle against each other.

And all of a sudden, with a final blast of silver light, Harry was lifted higher in the air; wind seemingly coming from nowhere, which had parchment flying everywhere in a whirlwind around Harry. Just as everyone's eyes were beginning to get accustomed and to the scene in front of them, a gold light shot out of Harry's chest engulfing him in a cocoon of which consisted of white and gold and with a final loud crack, Harry had disappeared.

Silence.

Silence reigned in the classroom, no one dared to speak, and Snape who had dared to open his eyes again was still in shock, staring at the spot where Harry once hovered, his knuckles turning deathly white as he clutched the edge of the desk for support.

Hurried footsteps was heard in the corridor outside the classroom, and the door was quickly slammed open revealing a very dishevelled Dumbledore, with his glasses askew, he was looking as if he had just ran all the way from his office to the dungeons. He surveyed the classroom; from the smashed potion bottles, several cauldrons of a ruined potion of some sorts, bits of parchment that seemed to form a circle around one desk and the unconscious form of one Draco Malfoy who was ungraciously slumped on the floor, wand still in his hand.

"Se...Severus..." Dumbledore panted, "What happened? The castle wards alerted me to powerful magical time serge. How this of could happened? A time surge? Who was involved? What happened?"

Snape opened and closed his mouth a couple of time before taking a deep breath and clearing his throat before he told the Headmaster exactly what had happened. "And...and then Pot-Harry disappeared and he won't be coming back. Trust me Albus, I know what that spell does and I'm certain that Harry isn't in this world, even this dimension. I'm truly sorry..."

No one had picked up on that the feared Potion Master had called his most hated student by his first name or that he had apologised and looked as if he meant it. They were all in utter shock, Harry Potter wasn't coming back, and even the Slytherin's were looking pale and uncertain.

Albus Dumbledore looked and felt all of his 103 years as he slumped and sat down against the nearest stool. He knew of what Severus spoke of was true, he could see the truth in his eyes without having to result to Legilimency to find out what happened, but he couldn't help worrying about what was to become of Harry, who was like a grandson to him.

"Er...Erm Professor Dumbledore, is what Professor Snape said true? Isn't Harry coming back?" Hermione whispered as she slowly walked up to the Headmaster, Ron right behind her.

"Yes, I'm afraid so Miss Granger, Harry James Potter is indeed not coming back. Ever."

With that said, Hermione broke down in tears and would have collapsed on to the stone floor if Ron hadn't of caught her. Who himself was looking shocked and ashen faced, as was the rest of the class.

The fate of the wizarding world was uncertain as was the life of a boy once named Harry James Potter who had no idea who or where he was.

-END CHAPTER ONE-

The spell that Draco said in English is "In the power of the twelve Gods, send thee back to the time unknown!" And I translated the spell from English into Italian using a simple internet translator, sorry for any mistakes. I chose Italian because I thought that it sounded the best.

What did you think? Reviews welcome

Completed 26/07/10

Chapter 2 is on the way


	2. Who is he?

**Notice: **Thankyou for all the story alerts and reviews, they are very much appreciated and to those of you who have reviewed I will send you a reply. Hope you enjoy the next chapter.

**Harry Potter in a Different World-Chapter 2 Who is he?**

Eyes opened very slowly only to close again when assaulted with an intense bright light that sent a shooting pain through his head and he whimpered and grimaced in pain. He felt something soft below him, he felt warm and somewhat comforted, but his whole body felt tired and sore, a hand stopped his movements quietly shushing him when he went to turn over to escape from the bright light that penetrated his eyes, even though they were closed. He heard a few snippets of the conversation that was floating around him, there was a least 3 people in the room...

"...where did you say he was found..."

"...middle of London...just lying there in the middle of the path...unconscious"

"...what of his injures...covered in bruises...few cuts..."

"...abused perhaps...poor little thing..."

"...Dr Harvey the x-rays have been developed, no broken bones..."

"...Right let me have a look...thank heavens...Nurse Collins can you contact social services and have them see if a child around the age of 4 or 5 has been reported missing..."

Falling behind with the conversation, the little figure in the bed was lulled back to sleep with the continuous soft hand that swept the hair back on the forehead soothing him into a easy sleep.

_A few hours later..._

Again, eyes opened very slowly, cautious to the bright light that was present before. He didn't want another headache again. But no, the bright light wasn't there, just a small lamp on a metal bedside table to the left. Looking around, he saw a slightly dirty window, and a worn but comfy looking brown armchair was in the left hand corner of the room away from the door that was on the right hand side. He felt...funny, like an unreachable itch that wouldn't go away and his mind felt sort of fuzzy...kind of blank, he couldn't remember anything. Scratching his head in annoyance and slight frustration he suddenly stopped when he felt the baby soft like silk hair atop of his head. Looking around for a second time, he spotted a mirror above the armchair. Gingerly getting out of the bed, he dropped to the floor and landed with a quiet thud on wobbly legs. He found out that he was quite a lot shorter than the bed, walking up to the armchair he grabbed the sides of it for support and hauled himself up, he still wasn't quite tall enough to see into the mirror so he stood up carefully to inspect himself in the mirror.

He had a round cherub like shaped face with dimples in both cheeks, he still had some baby fat to loose, which made him look younger and more childlike. The baby soft silk hair that lay atop of his head was black as coal in a short cut and was slightly longer on top than it was at the sides. As he moved his hands to touch his hair again, he caught sight of a few small bruises on his arms and frowned slightly, he touched above his eyebrow and rubbed it. It felt as though something should be there, but there was nothing; just creamy white unblemished skin. Returning back to the mirror he saw a cute little nose that suited the face just right and Forest green almond shaped eyes completed his scrutiny of himself just as the door to his room opened so suddenly that when he spun round he nearly fell out of the chair.

"Oh, your awake now are you dearie? How are you feeling? Well enough to get out of bed by yourself aren't you. Well, come on lets get you down from there, it's not safe for a little lad like you to be stood up like that, what if you fall? That's it come on down now, there's a good boy. Are you hungry chuck? We'll get you something light, maybe a broth and some fresh bread. Your quite thin you know, you weigh almost nothing, after you've eaten we'll weigh you and measure your height before we take a few picture because social services are coming round in a couple of hours to talk to you. You gave us all a fright when you were found in the middle of Kings Road unconscious. Are you alright, your awful quiet?"

He couldn't quite believe this short woman with the kind blue eyes, one minute he was standing on the chair and the next thing he knew was that he was being carefully lifted into surprisingly strong arms and being carried back to the bed and being tucked in. Didn't this woman take a breath? And what was with all her questions? She was looking at him expectantly and he realised that she wanted an answer.

"Yes, Ma'm...I'm okay, can I have some broth please Ma'm?" He whispered uncertainly, but the woman only smiled and her eyes twinkled with happiness that she'd gotten the little one to speak.

"Of course little one, and I'll have none of that Ma'm talk from you ok? No need to be so formal, I'm not even married, It's Nurse Collins or Sarah, but don't let any of the others hear you, alright?" Nurse Collins finished with a wink, and the little boy in the bed giggled quietly.

"Ah, so now you know my name, can you tell me yours chuck?" she asked softly. The little boy with the most gorgeous angelic looking face she had ever seen sat in puzzlement for a while, his little pink tongue poking out in concentration, she waited patiently until he had finished thinking.

"I think it's...Harry. Can't really 'member. Begins with a 'H'...but I like Harry." He looked triumphant in his achievement at remembering his name and for that the Nurse only smiled.

_Two hours later, after a weight and height check, a little boy with a full belly was waiting with for the people from Social Services to come..._

Two people walked in the room, one male and the other female. Both were wearing plain brown suits with the woman wearing a skirt and the man a green tie. Nurse Collins had brought another chair into the room and they both went to sit down, and had produced matching black clipboards and folders that Harry didn't see when they first brought into the room. Nurse Collins gave him a reassuring smile and a pat on the head before she left the room. The man, who had a thick brown moustache cleared his throat and smiled kindly before picking up his pen.

"Hello there, my name is Geoffrey Kendrick and this is Susan Doran and you must be Harry, that's what Nurse Collins says but you can't seem to remember if that's your proper name..." At Harry's hesitant nod of the head Geoffrey continued.

"Harry must be short for something; Harry is a short form of Harold, possibly Harly, Harrison or Henry. Which would you like?" he asked, all the while making notes on his clip board.

"None. I want Harry. I like Harry; I don't want a longerer name." Harry scowled.

Both Susan and Geoffrey laughed at the little boy in front on him who had now crossed his arms in front of his chest. Susan continued, "That's alright Harry, now we're going to ask you some important questions, it's very important that you answer truthfully alright, can you do that?"

"Yep" Harry answered brightly, uncrossing his arms.

"Excellent, right. We'll start with an easy question. Do you know how old you are Harry?" Susan asked.

"I think I'm 5...that numberer comes into my head" Harry answered after a short pause. Susan and Geoffrey exchanged glances but wrote down the number anyway.

"Good boy, now, do you remember why you were on your own? What happened to you? Where do you live? What is your mummy and daddy's name? What jobs so they do? Do you have any brothers or sisters?" The questions continued on and on and Harry got more frustrated the more questions they asked. Every answer was "I don't know" or "I can't 'member".

It seemed that Harry was getting more upset and frustrated that he couldn't answer the questions and suddenly he shouted "I don't know! Cant 'member! I don't wanna answer any more questions now!" and he started to bang his fist against the bed and tears had started to flow down his little cheeks. Nurse Collins had entered the room after hearing Harry in distress and went straight over to him and held him, slowly rocking him in her arms until he fell to sleep.

It was decided that Harry was to remain at the hospital to recuperate for the remainder of the week to see if he could remember anything else about his past, and to give him time for the bruises to heal. Social services had taken his picture and details and passed them around but no child with Harry's description was reported missing.

The week had slowly passed and no one had come forward to claim any lost child or had any knowledge of the child. It was like he didn't exist, he didn't even have a date of birth and without a surname, there wasn't much Social Services could do to find his parents or guardians.

It was finally decided that Harry would be sent to an orphanage. After a tearful goodbye from Sarah as Harry had come to call her, Harry stood in grey shorts and a white cotton shirt with a matching grey blazer complete with grey sock and slightly worn black shoes but they were comfy enough. He clutched a book in his hands, 'Black Beauty' which Sarah had read to him and he had instantly loved the story of the black stallion, and she had graciously given him the book saying that one day when he was older he would be able to read it himself. What Harry didn't know, was that Sarah had written a message at the very back, which one day she hoped that he would read.

Harry stood silently clutching Susan's hand while Geoffrey carried his bag which contained the few belongings that the hospital and Social Services had given him as the orphanage would be responsible for providing the majority of clothing for him once he got there.

With one last look at the hospital behind him, he saw Sarah in the window wiping one of her cheeks with a white handkerchief; Harry sent her a blinding smile that in turn caused her to smile. With a wave which still held his beloved book, he turned around and said "Ready." to Susan and Geoffrey, and so the trio made their way to Harry's new home; St. Mary's Orphanage.

What Harry didn't know, is that it was once called Cole's Orphanage, where a certain Dark Lord grew up and was run by an equally nasty Mrs Cole who had now passed on, and it was now run by her daughter; Mary.

-END OF CHAPTER 2-

**Note: **To the reviewer, who left no name-Thankyou for your review, there will be mentions of Harry's past life but they probably won't happen until later on within the story. I'm sorry that I'm not giving out any specifics; I just don't want to give anything away just yet.

**Second Note: **Just to make things a little clearer for you all;

-Harry has landed in the Marauders Era

-Albus Dumbledore defeated Tom Riddle aka Voldemort and he is dead. The Dark Lord in this story is going to be Gellert Grindelwald who has a fiercer reputation than old voldy and Grindelwald is going to be feature in later chapters.

Chapter 3 should be uploaded by Thursday. Thankyou for reading.


	3. A New Home

**Notice: **Thankyou all for the story alerts, and here is the third chapter, hope you enjoy it and thanks for reading.

Harry Potter in a Different World-Chapter 3 A New Home

Harry gazed up at the impressive grey building in front of him; still clutching Susan's hand, he felt her squeeze his hand in reassurance. It definitely looked intimidating, especially in the eyes of a five year old boy. The external look of the building was a very large rectangular shape what looked like to be made out of thick grey stone and was at least four stories in height, there was a stone wall that surrounded the perimeter of the building that was about 3ft completed with 4ft of iron wall that was in vertical lines and a two inch gap divided each piece of steel, the top of each segment was shaped as an arrow and the iron looked slightly, overall building look like a prison; giving the impression that it was to keep people in rather to keep people out. And this was to be Harry's new home.

As the trio unlocked and opened the stiff iron gate and entered the small courtyard to the orphanage, a slim slightly grey haired woman opened the door and beckoned them inside.

"Finally here are you, I've been waiting at least 10 minutes for you. It wasn't your fault was it? Your not one of those trouble makers are you? We don't stand for any of that nonsense here." The woman said so suddenly, turning her beady eyes on to the little boy who was now clutching Susan's whole arm instead of just her hand, looking wide eyed. Geoffrey wisely stepped in as he saw Susan scowled fiercely and open her mouth; she really disliked this woman, and if Susan got going then that was it, there would be no stopping her.

"Now, now Miss Cole...Mary, may I call you that? It's not the little lads fault we're a few minutes behind schedule, the traffic was simple horrendous on the way here. You know how it is. And we'll have none of that talk of blaming the boy, or you'll find yourself under inspection as to how your talk and treat the children in your care. Comprendrez-vous? Good. Now, lets all get inside where we can get the lad settled in." And without another word, Geoffrey simply pushed aside a flabbergasted and astonished Miss Cole and gently guided a smug Susan and baffled Harry indoors.

After twenty minutes of discussions between the three adults and a further ten minutes of signing countless pieces of paperwork. Harry Logan Ramiro Walker was now a resident of St. Mary's Orphanage and a ward of the government. Yes, Harry Logan Ramiro Walker was a bit of a mouthful to say and had caused raised eyebrows from both Miss Cole and Susan, but Geoffrey had gone a bit overboard and insisted that the name stay. He had decided that Harry needed an exotic and unusual middle name while the two women had protested and Harry had sat silently in confusion. They eventually came to a decision; Geoffrey had chosen Ramiro, Susan had chosen the name Logan and in addition to this, Miss Cole had been unmoveable of having his surname as Walker, seeing that it was a very common surname they had hoped that wouldn't cause too much attention, despite his unusual and many forenames.

The head of social services for the district of London had decided that Harry was to remain a ward of the government until he became of legal age or regained his memory, as they couldn't have any old stranger come to adopt him as they might be a danger to him because they knew so little of his past, just as a safety precaution.

After a very brief goodbye to Geoffrey and Susan, Miss Cole picked up Harry's very small bag of belongings, and had instructed him to follow her. They walked in silence, Harry's little shoes pattering quietly behind her as he tried to keep up with her long steps. They continued round several corners, until they got to a plain black staircase, still not speaking a word to each other, Miss Cole gave Harry a pointed look and they began to climb the stairs with Harry still clutching his book in his small hand, up two flights of stairs and turned right at the top of the stairs and down the corridor until they came to a door which stated _Room 26B _which Miss Cole had gone to unlock and preceded to place his bag on the bed inside. Miss Cole had began to explain the rules, and left him instruction that one of the older children was to show him around for the first day tomorrow.

She had also gone on to explain that there was some clothes to be sent up to within the next hour so he was to be read to put them away in the appropriate places. Miss Cole had then gone on to explain how grateful he should be that he was getting a complete new set off clothes because he was currently the youngest and one of the smallest boys. One thing that Harry was looking forward to was school; he couldn't wait to learn to read so he could finally read 'Black Beauty' on his own. And to his delight, Miss Cole informed him that he was to join the others in classes on Monday.

"And finally, are you paying attention boy? You are to keep your room in an acceptable and decent condition that is up to my standard. You may be young, but you will learn discipline and will treat me and the other staff with respect. You will refer to me as Miss Cole, nothing else, do you understand?" She said sharply.

"Yes Miss Cole." Harry replied quickly and obediently.

"Well done, you're a quick learner. Now, as I've mentioned previously, you are to await Sylvia, That's Mrs Turner to you boy, who will be bringing your clothes. Behave yourself and I will see you in the morning." Miss Cole turned swiftly out of the room and closed the door behind her, her keys gangling as she walked away.

Now that Harry was alone, he could freely observe his new room; it was quite a small room which housed matching oak wood furniture which included a small writing desk, bookcase and wardrobe and a bed that was situated under the window to the left hand side, the walls were slightly grey and might have been white once many years ago. A decent sized frayed green rug was in front of the bed which covered the dark mahogany floorboards, there was also a bronze hook on the back off the door, Harry's scrutiny of the room was interrupted by the door creaking open slowly and a brown haired woman entered carrying a bundle of clothes in one hand. So this was Sylvia Turner, she was quite young looking, perhaps in her mid to late twenties with kind brown eyes. Brown met forest green; Harry blushed slightly at being caught staring but she only smiled as she placed the bundle of clothes on his bed.

"So your Harry then are you? Miss Cole mentioned that we had a new little lad joining us. I'm Sylvia Turner; I'll be your home school teacher for the next couple of years until you get old enough for big school. Do you need any help putting all your clothes away? You're rather small, and I don't think that you'll be able to reach the top shelf of your wardrobe." She asked kindly.

"Yes please Mrs Turner, I'll pass them to you." Harry smiled shyly back.

The two worked in comfortable silence with Harry asking the occasional question about what he'll be learning at school and in return Sylvia asked Harry some simple easy questions such as what his favourite colour was and what his favourite animal is, his answers being blue and a dog respectively.

In no time at all, they had managed to put away three pairs of grey shorts, three pairs of grey trousers, six white shirts, two grey jumpers which had a thin blue outline around the collar, cuffs and base of the jumper much to Harry's delight, seven pairs of socks and underwear, three pairs of stripped pyjamas, two pairs of shoes and a further assortment of coloured clothes for casual wear.

A couple of hours later, a very sleepy Harry climbed into bed and fell asleep quickly as soon as his head hit the pillow. Just a few hours later Harry woke up with a start, he was panting and dripping with sweat, he swore he could still hear that strange man laughing...a red headed woman screaming and a flash of green light. All thoughts and concerns about the strange dream flew out of his head as he flopped back onto the pillow and fell back into a deep sleep.

And so Harry Logan Ramiro Walker had began his new life at St. Mary's Orphanage.

Several years later...

Harry was now seven years old; the time that Harry had lived in the orphanage had not been good for him. He was excluded from games and shunned by the other children his age so in the two years that had passed Harry had now grew to be a shy, hesitant and cautious boy, but he had also developed a sarcastic streak.

He was ignored and called a freak by other children and by Miss Cole herself, the reason, he was different. He could do things that other children or adults for that matter couldn't do, he could make things move without touching them and that made the other call him a freak, weird and abnormal. He did have one friend once, a boy named Simon who was a year older than Harry; they sat together in the dinner hall and played with the toy cars together, that was until Michael, the leader of the gang that frequently bullied Harry, had warned Simon to stay away from Harry as he was unnatural, that Harry want really wasn't Simons friend, that he was only pretending so he could infect him with his freakiness, and that he would hurt him. And so after this, Harry had no one.

Harry was still experiencing strange dreams like the one he had one his first night at the orphanage, there was the dream about a flying motorbike...a woman with blue hair...the people in his dreams always had no faced and they were slightly blurred. Harry just dismissed them as the odd weird dreams that everyone has once in a while.

Harry was extremely intelligent for his age; he excelled in all areas of his schooling as it was one of the ways that he could escape the cruelty from the others-both the verbal abuse, forever being put down and the occasional beatings from a gang of children Harry's; he had got use to the slaps, punches, shoves by the other children but another way to escape was to seek refuge in the small library on the top floor; not many children willingly entered the library so it was the perfect place to escape. This was how Harry's love of reading had started.

Harry soon grew to learn to be wary of others apart from one person whom he could act his true self, that person was his teacher, Sylvia Turner. She taught him to read, write, count, he can recite his times tables perfectly as well as the alphabet; forwards and backwards, he was almost fluent in French despite being only seven years old. They had already began to move on to a language of Harry's choice; Latin. Harry had felt that it was important to learn it. Sylvia was surprised at his choice and had only agreed if he learnt Spanish as well, because she had informed him that not many people understood or spoke Latin so learning Spanish would be more beneficial, and Harry had excitedly agreed. Harry had loved learning new things and he picked things up very quickly. Sylvia thought that Harry had a photographic memory as he only had to read a text a couple of times and he could remember it and recite it, he really was a clever boy, it was a shame that he wasn't as sociable as his peers.

There was one incident which made all of the bullies in Michael's gang leave him alone, for good...

_BEGIN FLASHBACK_

_Harry was walking back to his room, feeling happy with himself as he had managed to hold a full conversation in French with Mrs Turner without making a single mistake. Mrs Turner...Sylvia as she had instructed Harry to call her, had been so proud of him and when she had told him, he had a strange feeling in his chest. His conflict of emotions was interrupted by a group of boys who were gathered around a room. As he got closer he realised the boys, it was Michael, Paul, Mitch, Charlie and Samuel. And the room they were gathered outside was one of which he was familiar with._

_It was his._

_As Harry got closer he could hear giggling and laughter, one of the boys, Michael was holding something and reading to the others. Harry silently walked closer, he strained his ears, trying to hear what they were talking about._

"_...very important...ha-ha is if the freak will ever be important..."_

"_...see you soon...what, does someone actually want him, is this person crazy..."_

"_...all my love...did the weirdo write this himself, who could ever love a contaminated freak..."_

_The rest of the boys broke out in laughter, and Harry realised suddenly what they were reading. Rushing the last couple of steps, Harry was confronted with the sight of Michael holding his book 'Black Beauty' at the last page and reading off the very last page. Harry saw red, this was his book. It was a gift from Sarah with a personal message to him only, how dare they taunt and make fun of her. The group of boys must of heard his arrival of the last couple of steps as they all turned around to face Harry, Michael closed the book and strode forward with a smirk on his face, none of the boys seemed to notice that Harry's fists were clenched so tightly that his nails had started to dig into his skin or that he was breathing heavily barely controlling his anger. _

"_Well, if it isn't the freak...Harry LOSER Walker." Michael sneered, while the other tried to muffle their laughter. Harry didn't respond, he took a step closer, and said very clearly in a dangerous voice that none of the boys had ever heard before._

"_Give me my book back Michael, now. You won't like the consequences of your actions of you don't." The others stared at Harry in shock, and slight fear. Harry's eyes had started to seemingly glow a intense vibrant green that was so different from his forest green eyes, wind had started to pick up around Harry creating a sense of power around him making his raven hair blow about in all directions. All the boys took several steps back, all except Michael who seemed oblivious to what was happening around Harry and was not one to back down. He walked straight up to Harry and hit him on the side of his head with the book. Hard. Harry stumbled back slightly and was a little dazed but quickly regained his balance and realised that Michael had started talking._

"_Now why should I do that freak? After all, you're a nobody, why should I obey you? And as for this book...well, I might keep it. After all, you probably stole it anyway, I mean, who could actually write this stuff and actually mean it? Who could ever love you? You're just a..." but Michael didn't get a chance to finish his sentence as Harry, who had been growing increasingly furious with each and every word that Michael had said, so when Harry had finally put up with enough he gritted his teeth and all but growled,_

"_GIVE IT BACK NOW!" and with that, Harry shot out his right hand and a red beam of light shout out of hit and hit Michael straight in the chest. The other boys screamed and jumped back as Michael was hit and blasted down the corridor, but not before Harry's book gently flew into Harry's outstretched hand. _

"_My Name is Harry Logan Ramiro Walker. And you will stay the hell away from me, unless you want to end up like that slime ball down there." The other boys ran off with a fearful look at Harry; leaving an unconscious Michael at the end of the corridor slumped against the floor. _

_Harry quickly entered his room, and slid down the door until he was sat on the floor, legs stretched out in front of his. He was still breathing heavily, and felt extremely tired, he lifted his right hand an examined his hand but there was nothing there. That was, strange. What on earth had happened?_

_His book!_

_Harry quickly picked up his book and examined it closely making sure that there was no damage to it, some of the pages to the back of the book were a little creased but there was no major damage. Harry sighed and re-read the message that Sarah had written to him; _

'_Dear Harry, when you read this I will be long gone and hopefully you will remember me. You were such a cute little boy when you came to the hospital with the most beautiful smile that I had ever seen, I only wish you could have stayed a little longer. I don't know how old you will be when you read this or even if you kept the book, I only wish that you try hard in your studies and have fun, and to expect the usual and to remember that the things that hurt you only make you stronger._

_You are a very important boy, but you do not know it yet and I promise you that I will see you soon one day you, I do not know when but we will meet again. All my love and best wishes, Sarah xxx' _

_Harry smoothed down the creased pages and closed the book gently, he stood up and walked over to his barely filled bookcase and placed it in the middle of his school books. Turning around slowly, Harry was hardly aware of the lone tear that had escaped from his eyes as he made a promise to himself that no one was going to talk badly about any of his friends ever again. He wasn't going to stand for it anymore. It was time for a change._

_END OF FLASHBACK_

From that day on, word had spread of the 'freak power' that Harry had used on Michael and so the rest of the children had left him alone. There was the odd name calling but he had come to ignore it but he never got hit anymore. Not since the _incident_.

Not long after the confrontation with Michael, Harry had started to experience painful headaches and blurred sight. He had also started to bump into things and had trouble reading and seeing the board during school. Miss Cole just dismissed it and claimed that Harry was faking it to get attention but Sylvia had had enough and had took Harry to the hospital for an examination. Much to Miss Cole's annoyance she reluctantly agreed but shouted to them as they made their way out that he was not to have any expensive treatments as the orphanages funds were being cut.

After may tests, a very surprised doctor had told Harry that he was both long and short sighted which was very rare; especially in young children. The treatment that the doctor had suggested was unfortunately a costly laser treatment to correct his eyesight; which would be more beneficial than having two pairs of glasses with two different prescriptions. The doctor had also warned that Harry may need glasses even after the laser treatment if one of his eyes turns out to be of poorer quality than the other one. To put it mildly, Miss Cole was not very happy with the decision, but the doctor had been very insistent and so a week later, Harry had the operation and after a further two weeks of bandaged eyes and ointments, Harry could now see clearly with ease and no longer needed glasses to perfect his vision.

Another four years had passed at the orphanage and Harry was now eleven years old, Harry had seen 12 children arrive and 23 adopted and taken home. Harry had longed for someone to take him away from the orphanage, someone to love him, but no one ever did. But what Harry didn't know was that because he still hadn't regained his memory and the monthly assessment to see if he remembered anything proved nothing and inconclusive, Harry remained a ward of the government which made him unable to be adopted, even after several couples begged and pleaded to take the little lad with the gorgeous green eyes home.

Little did Harry know, his life was about to be turned around with the arrival of two people that were due to arrive that very same day.

-END OF CHAPTER 3-

And so ends chapter 3, Whoa that was the longest chapter that I've ever written! Seven pages and over 3,800 words!

Please review and let me know what you think.

What did you think? Was it any good? Too much description, not enough dialogue? Please let me know.

The next chapter should be uploaded by next Thursday at the latest and thankyou for reading, I hope that you all enjoyed it :)

Comprendrez-vous is suppose to mean 'do you understand' in French-If it is incorrect then I apologise as I used a internet translator.


	4. The Professors

**Notice: **Thankyou again all for the story alerts and reviews, here is the fourth chapter-It's a little early for you all but I thought I'd give you a surprised! Plus I had absolutely nothing to so today so I completed this chapter and made a start on the fifth chapter, hope you enjoy it and thanks for reading.

Harry Potter in a Different World-Chapter 4 The Professors

It was around 3'o'clock in the afternoon, and if anyone was looking, Harry Walker could be seen sat alone on the swings; head down with a book in his hands swinging slowly with the tips of his feet. Harry was often in this position, sat on the swings with a book in his hand while all the other children played together just 15feet away. They still ignored him, but Harry kind of liked it that way; why should he want to be friends with people who had previously called and bullied him.

It was two days after Harrys eleventh birthday and as a special present, Sylvia had bought him the last book in the Narnia series. A book which Harry had cherished as much as 'Black Beauty', but what he really liked was the mythical creatures, the adventure and sense of mystery, the talking animals (Especially Aslan), and the magic...he loved reading about it and he just knew that it was real. It had to be, magic must be what he was doing-it can't just be fiction. What he can do _must _be magic.

Secretly, Harry had taken to calling Miss Cole the White Witch, which was mostly true as she had a manipulative streak to her; the White Witch had used Edmund for her own gains just like Miss Cole had used Harry for her own advantage; not long after Harry had the laser treatment for his eyes, Miss Cole had dragged him along to an important meeting with whoever decided which institution got how much funds, she had gone on to explain that St. Mary's Orphanage (meaning herself) needed more money because so much was being spent on books, educational equipment, clothes and furniture for the children's rooms that they had to cut back on food, at this point she had stood up and hauled Harry in front of her and stood him on her previously occupied chair. She had then began to circle him and state that the children were getting dangerously skinny all the while poking a prodding at Harrys frame; even going so far as to lifting his shirt up, exposing his still skinny frame to the others in the room, who were shocked and horrified; Harry opened his mouth to protest that he was already like this before he came to the orphanage, but Miss Cole had seen him about to speak, so she had pulled him off the chair and gripped his shoulder harshly in warning to keep quiet. To add to the icing on the cake, Miss Cole had proceeded to tell them that Social Services, The Government and St. Mary's wouldn't want to be labelled as treating children with negligence and abuse which would cause an outright scandal if, for example, the papers found out. They readily agreed to give Miss Cole more money and she smiled triumphantly. Within the next month or so, Miss Cole could be seen wearing new expensive looking suits and shiny watches. But the children did get some use out of the money, Miss Cole, after a lot of prodding from Sylvia, had agreed to build a play area for the children, which included the very swing that Harry was sat on.

Harry was interrupted from his reading by the sound of lots of hurried footsteps; Harry gazed up away from his book and saw that all the children that were currently outside had ran indoors leaving Harry the only one left outside. Looking around further, Harry saw an elderly couple, a man and women who were possibly in their late fifties perhaps...It was hard to tell from this distance, and they were waiting just outside the gates. Ah, so that's why they all ran in, they must have heard the doorbell ring as they were closer to the building. They thought the elderly couple wanted to adopt, no wonder they all ran in as not many people adopted these days. The couple in question were looking at him. The way in which they were looking at him made Harry feel slightly uncomfortable, but he made no effort to move, why should he? This was his...home. So Harry gave them one last look before going back to reading his book. He was halfway through the last paragraph eager to turn the page when the side door to the orphanage was slammed open and the annoying screech of Miss Cole's voice penetrated his ears, Harry sighed, he was interrupted from his reading for a second time.

"WALKER! Get your backside in here right now. Who do you think you are, you lazy boy? Get in here right now. What's that you've got? Books aren't to be taken outside of the library; you are not above the rules. Now get inside, we are to have guests." With that said, or rather screeched, Miss Cole slammed the door once again behind her.

Harry sighed again, folded his current page and slipped off the swing, shoulders slumped and head bowed as he made his way to the door. Harry was clutching his book tightly hoping that it wouldn't be taken away from him; it wasn't a library book, it was his. Lost in his musings, Harry completely missed the looks between the elderly couple.

-ELDERLY COUPLES P-O-V STARTS HERE-

"Really Albus, there is no need for you to be here. You've not attended any other of the muggleborn meetings with me. It's not in your job description as _Headmaster_. Why _insist _at coming to this one?" A suspicious Minerva McGonagall asked her companion.

"No reason my dear Minerva, no need to worry. I just thought I'd come along to help you and there is a nice little candy shop a few streets away from here...I hear they sell the most sour lemon drops. Would you care to join me?" Albus innocently asked while inspecting the grubby looking doorbell.

"Enough with your infernal obsession with candy Albus, Now you answer me you daft old man, what is the real reason your here? _And no I don't want a blasted gumdrop!_" Minerva hissed. Albus frowned slightly and popped the offered gumdrop into his own mouth, sighing, he faced the woman next to her. She could always tell when he was up to something.

"Alright Minerva, you win. The reason I am here, is because this is the very same orphanage that Tom Riddle lived. Yes, I am aware it has since changed hands and names but I can't help but feel...uncertain and uneasy. What if this boy is exactly the same as Tom? I won't let another go down that path due to neglect on my part, he was like a son to me Minerva. It's just too coincidental that a magical child lives at this orphanage. I just want to make sure. I understand that it's slightly unethical to get involved but..." Albus sighed, looking quite grave and pensive.

"Oh...I understand Albus; I only wished that you had told me prior to me interrogating you like this, I apologise." Minerva flustered.

Albus only smiled, popping another gumdrop into his mouth. "Quite alright my dear, now, shall we?" Albus asked indicating to the doorbell that he was studying before. Minerva nodded.

_Ding Dong._

Both turned to the left slightly as they heard hurried footsteps and they were greeted with the sight of about twenty children running inside, and they both chuckled at the sight of the childrens movements all because of a simple doorbell.

Their eyes were unexpectedly drawn to small boy who hadn't moved off the swing he was sat on, he was swinging slowly which created the odd noise every so often. The boys' feet were only just touching the ground showing how small he was, the boy glanced up from the book he was reading and the pair were given a thorough look and with a last lingering look, the boy went back to reading his book. Minerva was confused slightly,

"Albus, why didn't that boy run in like the others? The others think that they're going to be adopted don't they? Why didn't he join them?" Minerva asked.

Albus gazed sadly at the lone boy on the swing, "I'm afraid Minerva that it looks like he's given up hope." Albus said softly still looking at the boy as the breeze occasionally ruffled his hair which made the swing move of its own accord.

Just as Minerva was going to reach past Albus to push the doorbell again, the sound of a door being slammed open drew their attention to a middle aged woman who had a furious expression on her face which as this distance was easy to see, the image was complete with hands on hips.

"WALKER! Get your backside in here right now. Who do you think you are, you lazy boy? Get in here right now. What's that you've got? Books aren't to be taken outside of the library; you are not above the rules. Now get inside, we are to have guests." With that said, or rather screeched, the woman slammed the door once again behind her.

"I believe Minerva, that this is our Mr Harry Walker." Albus stated while sharing a look of shock, incredibility and pity with his colleague. Little did they know that Harry hated pity. They continued to watch as Harry made his way indoors with slumped shoulders as he walked up the steps clutching his book desperately to his chest as if he was afraid that it was going to be taken away.

The door opened abruptly and they were led inside.

-ELDERLY COUPLES P-O-V ENDS HERE-

Miss Cole was not a happy woman; apparently the elderly couple were from a boarding school for the gifted and talented. Why him? He was nothing special, sure he was ahead off his class but that's it-he was just an outcast-a freak.

"Boy!" She hissed, "Get over here. Right, now, go and get yourself cleaned up quickly, two professors are here to talk to you so you'd better behave. You know what happens if you don't. And don't you dare embarrass me!" And with that she stormed off locking Harry's door.

Outwardly Harry remained calm and expressionless, but inwardly he was panicking. No one had ever come to see him before. What if they wanted to send him away? Well, he wasn't going to let them. Placing his book on the shelf, he straightened his clothes and stood facing the door, and just waited.

Meanwhile Miss Cole was telling the two professors how Harry came to be at the orphanage as she guided them to Harrys room.

"Well, he just appeared you see, unconscious in the middle of the street, he spent a week at hospital recovering from his injuries, oh it was nothing too serious just a few cuts and bruises. You see, he could only remember his first name and age so we had to name him, as decided by Social Services."

They arrived in no time outside _Room 26B_ and Miss Cole suddenly turned to them and whispered,

"Be careful with him though, he's a right weird one, that boy, he can make things happen and there have been incidents with the other children. One time, a couple of the boys swore that they saw Harry blast another child across the corridor and rendered him unconscious after a red light hit him."

Both Dumbledore and McGonagall exchanged surprised and shocked glances while Miss Cole continued on talking,

"...he was always a loner really, never had any friends...not as if any wanted to be" She muttered the last bit under her breath but the professors had heard her anyway and frowned.

A click of a lock interrupted them from their thoughts, Dumbledore raised an eyebrow at the locked door and McGonagall's lips thinned and was restrained from making a comment when Dumbledore placed an arm on hers and he shook his head ever so slightly as the trio now entered the room.

"Boy, a Professor Dumbledore and McGonagall are here to see you, you had best behave, do you hear me? No answering back and no _funny_ business. Do you understand?" Miss Cole asked him.

Harry sighed, he'd already heard this. She didn't need to repeat it in front of these people.

"Well?" She pressured, slightly frustrated and embarrassed that the boy was ignoring her, "Do you understand me boy?"

"Yes Miss Cole." Harry answered through gritted teeth.

"Good, I'll return in half an hour." She informed Harry, turning to the two professors, she approached them,

"Remember what I said, be careful of him, he is a bit weird and freaky." She walked out. Although she obviously hadn't meant for Harry to hear her-but he did.

Harry bristled slightly in anger, how dare she! Weird, Freaky! That's rich coming from her, stupid woman. It's not as if she's perfect.

The two professors could see that Harry was clearly upset and angered by Miss Coles comment; they saw him close his eyes and breathe deeply. When Harry opened his eyes, the professors were looking into forest green almond shaped eyes, they were clearly unique.

Harry nervously looked up through his raven coloured bangs and decided to began the conversation,

"Erm...Hi" he said shyly.

"Hello Mr Walker, may we sit down?" Dumbledore asked while gesturing to the bed.

"Sure, and it's Harry please. You don't have to sound so formal to call me Mr Walker; it sounds as if I'm in trouble when people call me that." He replied while moving to sit on the straight back wooden chair that was at his desk. He pulled it out and faced it towards the bed, and sat down just as the professors sat down on his bed.

"Very well then, my dear boy." Dumbledore answered as he sat down comfortably on Harry's bed, McGonagall next to him. Twinkling blue eyes that sparkled with kindness had surprisingly started to sooth Harrys worries.

"Now then, Harry, my name is Albus Dumbledore and this lady next to me is Minerva McGonagall, and I'm the Headmaster at a school caused Hogwarts and it's a school for special children with extraordinary talents and we'd like to..." Dumbledore had begun but he was cut off my Harry who was quite distressed.

"I'm not mad! I'm not going to an asylum! I didn't do anything; it's all lies what that blasted woman has told you, I'm not going to be locked up!" Harry stated, breathing heavily, eyes watering with the thought of being sent away. Yes, his time at the orphanage wasn't the greatest, but he still didn't want to be moved and locked up like some animal.

Seeing that Harry was starting to get a little eccentric, Minerva quickly intervened seeing that the boy was clearly in distress, cursing Albus for his lack of tactfulness, this was not how she usually informed the muggleborns.

"No, no, no, calm down child, that's it, well done, deep breaths now. What my _brainless_ colleague failed to inform you Harry is that Hogwarts isn't a school for mad people. Hogwarts is a school of magic." Minerva told him while giving Albus a cat-like glare.

A minute of silence passed, then two, then three before anything was said. All that could be heard was Harrys soft breathing as he calmed down.

"Magic" he whispered, a million thoughts going through his head.

"Haven't you ever made something happen, something you couldn't explain when you were happy, angry or scared?" Dumbledore asked.

"No" Harry said quickly, but when Dumbledore looked at him knowingly as he lowered his half moon glasses.

"Erm...maybe..."he said quietly lowering his head.

"There's no need to be scared or ashamed Harry, magic is a great gift. And at Hogwarts we will teach you not only to use magic but also how to control it. We have brought with us some mandatory books and leaflets to help you adjust to the magical world. That is if...you should wish to accept your place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry?" Albus asked seriously.

"Yes please sir" Harry replied eagerly, almost bouncing in his seat with the thought of meeting some children his own age _just_ like him-Harry happily realised that he wasn't freakish at all.

"Excellent" Dumbledore exclaimed happily, eyes twinkling madly and smiling that typical grandfather smile.

"Now, let's get down to the details. Here is your admittance letter which you can read later, ticket for the Hogwarts express from platform 9 ¾'s and your list of Hogwarts school supplies." Upon seeing the boy frown at the mention of a supply list, Albus knew what the boy was thinking.

"Now Harry, don't you go worrying about finances. Hogwarts has a scholarship and bursary fund and you fit into that category so you won't have to pay a thing. Here is your card, it's pretty new and only you can use it." Albus handed Harry a rectangular shaped thick peace of paper that felt like plastic but is wasn't. The card read;

_Harry Logan Ramiro Walker_

_Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_

_1__st__ Year Student_

"Listen carefully Harry, this card has 150 galleons on it and it should last you for the entire first year at Hogwarts with a little left over for spending money. In addition to this you'll receive 20 galleons at Christmas and Easter respectively as additional spending money to buy gifts, more parchment or ink etc...There are 29 bronze Knuts to a Sickle and 17 silver Sickles to a gold Galleon. Now this is all explained in this leaflet '_An easy guide to understanding the Wizarding World; The muggle version'. _Do you understand so far?" At Harrys nod McGonagall, who had remained quiet, spoke up.

They then had both happily agreed to show Harry some magic after he had shyly requested it; Dumbledore turned the entire room lime green with electric purple polka dots which made Harry feel slightly dizzy. McGonagall, after cancelling Dumbledore's spell, had then turned Harry's bedside table into a rare white lion cub, and to his utter delight it came right up to him and demanded to be stroked. They chatted for a further ten minutes, with Harry petting the little lion cub all the while. As their meeting was coming to an end, McGonagall had reversed the spell and the bedside table was back in its rightful form.

"Harry, would you like somebody to accompany you to Diagon Alley to get your school supplies?" McGonagall asked.

"No thankyou, I'd rather do it myself, I can manage." Harry stated while standing up. McGonagall nodded and gave him directions. Both professors stood up and headed towards the door.

"Well then, I'll see you on the first of September and enjoy the remainder of your holiday. Oh, I almost forgot, here are your books and leaflets. Goodbye Mr Walker." Dumbledore then proceeded to give him a couple of books and a handful of leaflets; Harry couldn't wait to read them. After both McGonagall and Dumbledore had shaken his hand, Harry heard Dumbledore mutter,

"Now, where is that Miss Cole? I do wonder if she could give us directions to the candy shop, these gumdrops can get a little bland after a while..." Dumbledore reflected to himself as he walked out, a bemused Minerva following.

The two professors had left Harry feeling happy, excited and most importantly accepted.

END OF CHAPTER 4

**Note: **The next chapter will be uploaded by Thursday; I hope that you all didn't mind this chapter being early.

Please leave me a review and tell me what you think and thankyou for reading :)


	5. Diagon Alley

**Notice: **Firstly I'd like to apologise for not updating when I said I would, I have broken my laptop so I'm stuck to using the family computer and I can only get on it when it's free. Also my dad complains that I type too load so I have to use the PC when he's at work. But I made it a long chapter for you all with over 7,000 words! Thank you for the story alerts and reviews and I hope you all like it, and thanks for reading. Hopefully, it will have been worth the wait :)

Harry Potter in a Different World- Chapter 5 Diagon Alley

Harry waited precisely five minuets until he knew for definite that the professors had gone and that Miss Cole wasn't coming back, before he jumped unceremoniously on his bed with a big grin on his face before flopping on his back staring at the ceiling, eyes glittering with excitement. Eyes gazed over toward his desk at which Dumbledore; no it was Professor Dumbledore now, had left his letter, books and leaflets. Throwing his legs over the side of the bed, Harry made his way over to the desk and picked up the envelope that was on top of the pile of books, it was thick, heavy and of some sort of rough material that was yellowish and the writing was written in emerald ink, it read;

_Mr H. Walker_

_Second floor, room 26B_

_St. Mary's Orphanage_

_Cale Street, London_

Turning the envelope over, a large letter 'H' was surrounded by four animals; a badger, an eagle, a lion and a snake. These must be the mascots of the four houses that the professors were talking about. Breaking the wax seal, Harry pulled out another yellowish piece of the rough material which Harry suspected to be parchment. This was Harrys Hogwarts letter and he read it twice just in case he missed something out as he was reading so fast;

_Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_

_Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore (Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorcerer, Chief Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confederation of Wizards) _

_Dear Mr Walker,_

_We are pleased to inform you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins on the first of September. We await your owl by no later than the thirty first of July._

_Please take note, this is note a hoax, a member of our faculty will be along to your residence within the next couple of days to explain further as our records show that you are a muggleborn (magical child born to non-magical parents) and so you may need further assistance._

_Yours sincerely,_

_Minerva McGonagall, _

_Deputy Headmistress _

Harry frowned slightly, muggleborn? What does that term mean? Was it an insult? Did the Wizarding world have prejudices? It must be in the leaflet; '_An easy guide to understanding the Wizarding World; The muggle version' _that Professor Dumbledore mentioned, he'd have to look it up as soon as he got a book from Diagon Alley.

Looking through the rest of the books and leaflets that the two professors left, Harry was now in possession of;

_Hogwarts: A History_

_Hogwarts Subjects: a brief overview for muggleborns by Carolyn Burbage, current muggle studies professor at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. _

_Wizarding Law and Behaviour by Magnus John Aurelius_

A piece of parchment fell out of Harrys admittance letter that stop him from inspecting his current reading material, as his eyes wandered further down the list, Harry wondered if he had enough money, despite what Professor Dumbledore had said. He really wanted to buy some more clothes and additional book that weren't on the set book list; he wanted to make a good impression. The equipment list caught Harry's attention;

_Other Equipment_

_1 wand_

_1 cauldron (pewter highly recommended, standard size 2)_

_1 set of glass or crystal phials (students may bring spares if they so wish)_

_1 telescope_

_1 set of brass scales (cleaning solutions included)_

_Students may bring if they desire an owl, a cat or a toad. Other pet requests must be made to the Headmaster and the four head of houses. _

A wand, a magic wand. That was what Harry was really looking forward to. Although, the idea of a pet caught Harry's interest, he might as well consider it.

'It would be nice to have a pet to talk to.' Harry thought. Harry was pulled out of his thoughts by Miss Cole's cringing shrill of,

"DINNER IS READY! Get down here you lot! Last one to the table gets the scraps or nothing at all."

Carefully but quickly, Harry placed all of his Wizarding things in the bottom draw of his wardrobe under his pyjamas, before he made his way down to dinner. Tomorrow, he would head for Diagon Alley to get his new school things...and Harry could hardly wait.

**-The- Next- Day-**

Harry woke up bright and early the next day, he couldn't wait to go to Diagon Alley and see all of the magical things. He was so excited that he was washed, dressed and ready for 7.30am. So to pass the time until breakfast, Harry had continued to read all of the books and leaflets that were left to him yesterday. They were all very helpful; Harry was looking forward to Charms and Potions the most although Defence Against the Dark Arts had caught his interest.

Although, Harry was disappointed to discover that in '_An easy guide to understanding the Wizarding World; The muggle version' _there was some who were prejudices against muggleborns. These were mostly pureblood, and the occasional half-blood who believed that they were superior to those who didn't have magical blood that went back generations. But, Harry didn't know who his parents were...they might have been magical! There must be some sort of test or potion that he could do to find out?

However, Harry really couldn't wait to get his wand. According to the _Wizarding Law and Behaviour by Magnus John Aurelius _underage magic was ignore by the ministry until the child attended a magical school this was because when children received their wands, many children have a go at some simple spells and so the ministry tended to ignore these unless it was something serious of course; and so Harry was going to take full advantage of this, feeling very glad that he had decided to read all of his books.

Two hours later, with Miss Cole being £10 out of pocket, Harry had just boarded the bus on Cale Street; it would take about 15 minutes on the bus to get to Charing Cross Road where Professor McGonagall had told Harry that Diagon Alley was, but he had to find 'The Leaky Cauldron' first; as this was the entrance to the Alley. Harry patted his pocket for the fourth time in 10 minutes to make sure that his card and letter were still there.

Exiting the bus, Harry received a few suspicious looks at being on his own but he ignore them and started to look for the Leaky Cauldron. The minutes went by and Harry was starting to feel a little scared, uncertain and downhearted. He couldn't find it. What if it was all a joke? And when he got back to the orphanage would all of the other kids laugh at him for believing that magic was true? With Harry panicking, he didn't see the heavy built man who was trying to swerve round him but Harry turned in the direction of the man and bumped into him, Harry was sent sprawling to the floor slightly winded.

"Hey lad, I'm so sorry, are you alright? I was just in a hurry and I was trying to get round you but you just turned and I didn't get a chance to stop. Lad, are you ok?"

But Harry wasn't listening; he was staring up at a sign. A black sign. A black sign with a cauldron on it. It was the Leaky Cauldron! Elated, and panting slightly, Harry accepted the man's hand and was hauled up to his feet and with a muttered thanks, Harry promptly walked up to the building, leaving a confused gentleman behind him, wondering where the lad went to.

It was a tiny grubby looking pub, no wonder Harry hadn't noticed it, so he turned the handle and entered the pub, closing the creaking door behind him.

It was dark inside, very dark. It took Harry a moment to adjust to the lack of light. Harry wasn't very impressed, it was quite shabby inside with black and grey furniture that had seen better days but it looked comfortable none the less. It was relatively empty being only 9:30 in the morning as Harry suspected that many witches and wizards were at work. There was a little man in the corner of the room who was smoking a long thin pipe while reading the paper.

Harry cautiously walked up to a man that was behind the bar, he had his back to Harry so Harry cleared his throat and the man turned around.

The man looked to be in his late twenties with light brown hair that was thinning slightly on the top of his head.

"Hello there young man, how can I help you? I'm Tom by the way; I've just recently bought the Leaky Cauldron so bare with me if I'm a bit slow." Tom laughed, and when he spoke Harry could see that he had quite a few teeth missing but he looked friendly. Harry smiled,

"Hi Tom, I'm Harry, pleased to meet you. I was wondering if you could help me get into Diagon Alley? I'm getting my school supplies today and Professor McGonagall told me to come to the Leaky Cauldron. Well, I'm here but I'm not sure where to go now..." Harry finished uncertainly. But Tom only smiled and exited the bar.

"We'll, that I can help you with. Follow me, Harry was is?" Tom asked as they made there way to the back of the pub and out of a door into a little backyard. At Harry's nod, he continued

"Most people either apparate or floo directly into Diagon Alley, alternatively, you can enter from here." Tom finished with a flourish of his arms, pointing to a brick wall. Harry's brow furrowed in confusion, he opened his mouth to ask Tom if he was alright, when tom suddenly whipped out a smooth mahogany looking stick, he then tapped it in several places and the wall started to fold in on itself until it revealed an archway and Harry could suddenly hear the familiar bustle of shoppers. Tom chuckled at Harrys gob smacked expression.

"You tap the wall here, here and here with your wand and hey Merlin, you can now enter Diagon Alley. Off you go, it's a good thing that you've come this early as there's not many people so you should get seen to quickly. Just a hint for you Harry, ask the shop keepers to shrink your items and place a timer on them so they will expand to their full size when you get home so you don't have to carry everything around all day. Oh, and are you stopping for dinner? Today's special is steak pie, fresh garden peas, creamy mash potatoes and onion gravy. And for desert its homemade sponge pudding and custard in whatever colour you want. I can reserve you a table and a portion if you want?" Tom asked.

Harry, who was almost watering at the mouth at description, hurriedly agreed. The meals at St. Mary's were average on the best of days but that meal that Tom had described sounded like heaven to Harry. Tom had reserved a table for Harry for around 5 o clock, but had reassured him that if he was early or late, he would still get seen to.

Harry thanked him for everything and entered the Alley.

Harry had to refrain himself for rubbing his eyes, it was magnificent. There were shops on both sides, the colour was just brilliant and there were simply loads to look at. Even cobbled stones lined the floor; Harry wished he had about ten more eyes to look at everything, the alley was quiet like Tom said, there was the odd group of people walking up and down and entering shops but it would get busier as the day progressed so Harry had best get a move on . Calming himself, Harry took out his Hogwarts letter and re-read his list. Thinking it over, Harry decided to start at bottom of the alley and to work his way back up to the Leaky Cauldron so he wasn't backing up on himself.

It just so happens, much to Harrys delight, that the shop at the end of the alley was Ollivander's Wand Shop. Gold letters above the shop read _Ollivander's: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C, _and in the window, on display Harry could see a solitary wand lying on a rich purple cushion that had silver embroidery around the edge.

Harry opened the door, and a tinkling of a bell could be heard as the door closed behind him. It was a very small shop; all of the walls were covered in thousands of boxes of which Harry assumed to be wands, Harry tilted his head to look upwards and the boxes were piled up right to the ceiling.

"Good morning," said a soft but slightly suspicious voice that made Harry jump and stopped his observation, an old-ish looking man was stood in front of him, he had pale silver eyes that reminded Harry of the moon, he found his gazed slightly creepy.

"You seem vaguely familiar to me, but I do not know who you are Mr..." Harry finished off for him.

"Walker, sir, Harry Walker. I'm a muggleborn sir." Harry said softly.

"Ah, yes, that's probably it. Come now, Mr Walker, let see which wand which you're destined for." Ollivander said, still looking at Harry with suspicion, like he didn't believe who Harry said he was.

"Well now, Mr Walker. Which is your wand arm?" Ollivander asked while he pulled out a long tape measure with silver and gold markings. Harry eyed it uncertainly wondering why on earth he would need to measure him if he was getting a wand.

"Er-well, I'm right handed so I guess my right arm then." Harry said, slightly put off when Ollivander came towards him and started to measure him from shoulder to finger, elbow to wrist, shoulder to the floor, knee to his elbow but Harry had had enough when the tape measure came to his nostrils, no way was that going near his face and so he batted it away harshly with his hand. When Harry realised what he had done, he looked up worriedly to Ollivander, would he be angry with him? He had just interfered with someone's property that they were using to help him.

But to Harry's complete surprise, Ollivander looked positively delighted, and exclaimed excitedly,

"Oh now that's never happened before I must say. This will be an interesting wand for you Mr Walker, a wand that demands respect perhaps..." Ollivander muttered as he went to the back off the shop, he came back with an arm full of about 20 wands, pale silver eyes were sparkling with suppressed restlessness and excitement. He knocked over a stack of wands in his haste but didn't seem to notice.

"Try this one Mr Walker, twelve and a quarter inches long, made of Ash with a unicorn hair, pleasantly springy. This specific unicorn almost gored me with its horn when I plucked its tale. Well, give it a wave, don't just stand there." He said to Harry, who was feeling very foolish, waved it and one of the gas lamps on the wall exploded sending shards of glass everywhere. Luckily, Ollivander had erected some type of shield that protected them from being cut. He snatched the wand out of his hand almost at once.

"Nope, that won't do at all. The combinations of ash and unicorn hair aren't compatible with you Mr Walker...Ah ha, try this, ten and a quarter inches, willow, very swishy, and would be nice for charms work." Ollivander said, all the while getting another wand out of a red box.

Harry gripped the wand and waved it, there was a loud crunching noise and Harry spun around and saw that a spindly looking chair that Harry must had missed on his way in the shop was now in dismantled and resemble firewood more than a chair. Harry opened his mouth to apologise but Ollivander waved him off and thrust another wand in his hand.

"How about this Holly wand, nice and flexible with a phoenix tail feather, eleven inches, nice and supple." Ollivander said excitedly, like it was a game for him to have Harry try out all of his wands. Harry had tried nearly all of the wands that Ollivander had brought with him from the back of the shop and not one had felt right. One wand that contained a Hippogriff Talon, when he had attempted to wave it, the wand flew out of his own hand and into the hand of a brown hair boy who was just walking through the door. Ollivander demanded 9 galleons for the wand and literally pushed them out of the door.

Harry sighed, how hard was it? He just wanted a wand. These stupid stubborn wands weren't working or it. Getting slightly fed up and frustrated Harry sharply waved his wand in the direction of Ollivander and could only gape at the sight in front of him.

Ollivander now had twigs for eyebrows; his slightly greying hair was now dark brown complete with a birds nest filled with birds on the top of his head. He also had two branches covered in leaves where his ears should be. Ollivander, confused at Harry's expression, walked over to the mirror behind the counter and looked at his reflection, he muttered a shocked oh dear before reversing the spell. Turing around, he walked back over to Harry, looking at him in deep thought.

"You need a sturdy or inflexible wand Mr Walker, one that is hard to master. Swishy and flexible wands do not suit you; yes you are a very difficult young man. A wand has not chosen you yet..." he said abruptly, after many minutes of silence.

Harry had tried at least 10 more wands, turned all of his clothes inside out, banished Ollivander's hair and made it appear on his chin as a very bushy beard. It was nearing 10:30 and Harry still had more shopping to do. Ollivander again seemed happier the more wands that Harry tried, Ollivander looked thrilled and elated as he ran past Harry muttering something that he couldn't quite make out.

He came back, slightly out of breath, carrying a very dusty black box with a silver ribbon round it.

"Try this one Mr Walker." He whispered, handing Harry a very dark brown wand that it almost looked black.

As soon as Harry gripped, he felt a sudden warm tingle all over his body, he waved it above is head and brought it swishing down and a stream of electric blue, silver and green sparks erupted from the tip like a firework and everything that was broken previously was fixed. He handed the wand back to Ollivander with a big grin on his face, but Ollivander was looking at Harry with an unreadable expression.

"What's the matter, sir?" Harry asked, a little annoyed at being looked at like this.

"It's just...curious." he muttered.

"If I may ask," Harry said, a hint of frustration seeping through in his tone, "But what's curious?"

"It's just that you, Mr Walker, were not destined for any of my wands. The wand that you had just held appeared on my desk about fifteen years ago. I of course tested it for jinxes and curses but none could be found. I did not expect it to choose you, which is why I was very surprised and curious as to why it's you. This wand has no record of any maker, just like you have no record of your parents. Yes, I know about that. This is a very powerful wand Mr Walker, and it's very unusual, the reason being it that it has two cores; Chimera scale which is very rare and very powerful which produce raw power and can be very difficult to control in a single wand, but mixed with the second core which is the hair from the mane of a Kelpie which a superb for all spells but this is a very temperamental core, who knows what things we can expect from this wand. But, what makes this wand so fascinating is that I believe that the hair from the Kelpie was rolled in the dust of a Runespoor fang, and Runespoor fang cores are best for those who deal with dark magic, and this turned the wood darker in colour." He paused here to take the wand back out of its box and to show Harry the wood.

"You see, Hornbeam wood can be moderately dark in colour itself, but the influenced of the crushed Runespoor fang infected the natural balance of the wood. Hornbeam is the most stubborn of wand woods, and those who have the necessary will to master it will be rewarded with an extremely powerful wand. But mixed with those powerful temperamental cores...I should have very much liked to meet the maker..."

Harry's head was swimming with thoughts, bloody hell. What had he got himself into? He'd have to research further; a trip to the nearest bookshop should have some books on wand properties and cores. Harry suddenly realised that Ollivander was still talking,

"...it would be advisable for you to purchase a wand holster. A left handed draw should do, a dragon hide material would be best; it comes with an anti-summoning charm so only you can draw your wand and also has the moderate protective spells. You will not have to pay for the wand seen as I did not make it, I do not want to take credit for what another wizard or witch has done but I expect you to pay for the wand holster, I have to make a living somehow you know."

Harry could only nod; he was still bewildered with what he had recently found out.

"So then Mr Walker, a twelve inch Hornbeam wand with two cores, sturdy and inflexible and one dragon hide wand holster; left handed draw. That will be 1 galleon and 3 sickles please." Ollivander stated.

Harry fished out of his pocket the card that Dumbledore had given him and he handed it to Mr Ollivander. Harry fixed the holster around his waist and placed his wand in it. Ollivander had told him that it would magically adjust to fit on his arm or his thigh if he didn't want to wear it on his waist. Just as Harry was about leave the shop after the payment had been made, Ollivander spoke up,

"Mr Walker, should anyone ask what core your wand has, I suggest not telling them that you have two cores possibly three if you include the powered Runespoor fang...anyway, unless you trust them impeccably, only tell them one core. Good day to you Mr Walker." Ollivander said seriously before he bowed slightly and walked in silence to the back of the shop.

Harry shivered, he wasn't too sure if he liked Mr Ollivander, he was to put it mildly...very creepy and Harry couldn't exit the shop fast enough.

The next stop for Harry was _Scribbulus Writing Instruments _which was a small stationary shop which sold different quills and inks, and parchment. Harry decided to purchase one best quill which was an eagle quill that was pure black and had a silver tip which meant that, according to the assistant, that it had basic protective spells on it such as it wouldn't burn if it was set on fire, it wouldn't snap or blot your writing. Harry had also bought many simple style Quills that Harry would use first to get use to writing with them.

Harry had bought a first year pack of parchment as he wasn't sure how much he would use; he also bought some spare parchment for practice before he went to Hogwarts. He'd also bought four bottles off black ink in unbreakable glass bottles with anti-spill sealed caps and the assistant had given him an order form if he found out that he needed more supplies before the end of the first term. Harry's final purchase was a quill knife, to sharpen the tips of his quills. This also came with a free instruction guide of how to sharpen your quill perfectly.

Once again, Harry gave his card to the assistant behind the counter and paid for his stationary. He had also remembered to ask them to shrink his items and put a timer on them. The assistant muttered _decresplitudo _and then asked Harry what time he would like it to enlarge to its original time. Harry thought 9 o clock should be alright and so told the assistant.

Harry had decided to bypass _Magical Menagerie _and come back later if he had enough time and money to get a pet because the Alley was getting busier.

Nearly three and a half hours later, a slightly tired Harry had bought a slightly expensive trunk, but Harry thought that it was defiantly worth it, it came with several compartments and many protection charms that stopped any unwanted visitors from rooting around in his trunk. It also wouldn't get damaged by water or fire or any other stray spells that hit it. He had also purchased a satchel for taking to his classes so he could put all his school books, homework, quills and ink etc so he could easily carry them to lesson.

As for the school uniform which Harry got from _Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions, _Harry never wanted to go in there again. Unfortunately for Harry, there was several old women buying dresses and when they saw Harry, who was unluckily stood on the stool at the time, had expressed how cute he looked and had come over and started pinching his cheek and _cooing _at him. Harry hurriedly left the shop, red faced as he made his way to Gringotts Wizarding Bank. He had decided to withdraw some money from his school vault and transfer it into muggle money to buy some clothes that weren't Wizarding clothes, but he would have to do that on another day because he still had his telescope, scales, cauldron and potion ingredients to buy yet. And it seemed as if Diagon Alley was getting busier and busier.

Harry had spotted a sign for ice-cream and so had headed in that direction, swerving between the busy shoppers. _Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour _was a small yellow painted shop with a small area to sit outside and eat. He walked inside and got in the queue, just 5 minutes later, Harry was being asked what flavour he wanted,

"Hello, welcome to _Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour_, I'm Sara, what can I get for you?" the young woman asked from behind the counter, she looked about 16 long blond hair that was tied in a bun and dark blue eyes.

Gazing appreciatively at all of the different and unusual flavours that Harry had never heard of before, Harry decided to have a Choco Chunky Sundae, just to be safe. It was simply gorgeous; it just melted in the mouth. Harry had finished off an entire large bowl of chocolate ice-cream with chocolate chunks, a layer of chocolate brownies, melted white chocolate covered the brownies, and there then was another layer of chocolate ice-cream topped off with a rich chocolate sauce complete with white and dark chocolate sprinkles. Harry decided that it was well worth the 1 Sickle and 2 Knuts. Harry continued to sit there; all that chocolate had made him feel slightly sickly. There were quite a few children in the Alley now, in a few weeks, Harry would be attending Hogwarts with them, and he couldn't wait.

Entering _Flourish and Blotts, _Harry thought that he could just run away from St Mary's and live in here; there were mountains of books everywhere. Grabbing a basket that was shaped like a cauldron, Harry had to refrain himself from running along all of the isles so he settled for walking quickly, a great big smile on his face.

Harry exited the shop having spent nearly more than double of what he would have liked, but he just had to get additional books that weren't on the set book list. He had bought at least one additional book for each subject at Hogwarts and several others that caught Harry's attention. One of these books was a book on discovering your Hereditary, Harry had a quick flick through it, the book was very thin and had tiny writing, he had turned onto a page that described a potion which could trace your ancestors back generations and so he quickly placed that in his cauldron shaped basket. Harry was amazed that his pockets didn't feel heavy with the amount of books that he'd bought, but he supposed that when they were shrunk that they lost their weight.

Harry had then proceeded to buy his magical instruments; the telescope and the brass scales and had managed to get them a little cheaper than the actual sale price. Harry had never haggled for anything before but he felt quite proud of himself; even if it had only been 2 Sickles and 7 Knuts cheaper.

Harry was getting closer to the Leaky Cauldron as he could see the stone archway so he must be nearly finished, Harry glanced at his list and saw that he only had his cauldron and potion ingredients to buy.

Harry walked towards _Potage's Cauldron Shop _and saw that there were a stack of cauldrons outside that looked that they might topple over if you so much as breathed on them. Upon entering the shop, an old man with a grey stubble looked at him with cold eyes, and he said sharply,

"Well don't just stand there gawping boy, you look like a complete imbecile. What do you want? Copper, brass, pewter, silver, gold? Speak up boy!" he said, sending spittle flying everywhere and Harry was glad that he wasn't stood closer.

"Pewter sir, standard size 2." Harry answered clearly, although slightly put off by the man's attitude.

The man in question only grunted and shuffled from behind the counter and walked over to the third shelf on the back wall and pulled out a cauldron, he then placed it on the counter with a _thud_.

"Well, 3 galleons, 11 Sickles and 5 Knuts." The man rudely barked. Harry jumped slightly and hurriedly handed over his card which the man snatched out of his hand.

Putting his card back in his pocket, Harry decided that he did not want to ask this man to shrink his cauldron for him, he might explode if he asked him so he gingerly picked it up, testing its weight. It wasn't that heavy but he doubted that he could carry it all the way to the Leaky Cauldron without having to rest his arms due to him not having much muscle.

Harry quietly muttered thanks to the man before opening the door and rushing back for his cauldron before the door closed.

Huffing slightly, Harry had clearly underestimated the weight of the cauldron along with having to carry it while walking; luckily Harry's last shop to visit was the Apothecary to get his potion ingredients which was only two shops away. A minute later, Harry entered _Slug & Jiggers Apothecary _and fortunately for Harry, the door was already open.

Inside was packed full of all types of potion ingredients, there was many jars and vials containing herbs, roots, and brightly-coloured powders along the walls, all different types of feathers, fangs, and claws hung from the ceiling.

Placing his cauldron down on the floor, Harry noticed that there was another person in the apothecary other than the owner, who Harry guessed was the owner by the expensive looking waistcoat that he was wearing which had a gold pocket watch hanging out. A boy around the age of fifteen with long black shoulder length hair was arguing with the man behind the counter.

"...and these Billywigs aren't fresh, look at the stings, they're all wrinkled and I will pay no less than 2 Sickles and 7 Knuts unless you throw in a pound of Boomslang skin for half price? Next I want number 1.3 sized vial of Dittany, 3 Shrivelfig's and 2 jars of Armadillo Bile." The owner, looked rather put out with the boys scrutiny of his ingredients but reluctant agreed and wrapped the boys ingredients in brown paper. After exchanging a lot of silver coins and the odd gold coin the boy then went into his packet and pulled out a vial containing four green leaves.

"Now, I'm sure that you can be discreet. These are four very rare Venomous Tentacual leaves that I have been instructed to sell by a very close friend of mine." The boy silkily said, almost above a whisper. Harry could see that the owner's eyes were fixed upon the glass vial, unblinking; he licked his lips before he said,

"I'll give you 20 galleons for them." He said, but the boy shook his head.

"They're worth at least double that." The boy stated.

"25 galleons, and if you want more you can go down Knockturn." The man said sharply.

"No, I'll take 35 galleons for them." The boy smoothly said and Harry saw the mans brow furrow in contemplation. He growled slightly before he answered.

"I'll go to 28 galleons, 16 sickles and 23 knuts. And no higher, I've got to make myself a profit boy." The man stated, still looking at the leaves in the vial.

"Deal." The dark headed boy said and the two exchanged items and money.

The boy nodded curtly and turned around to leave to shop but started in surprise when he noticed that Harry was stood there.

Harry saw dark coloured eyes that looked almost black widened ever so slightly, he had a slightly hooked nose that looked as if it had been broken too many times, and he was dressed all in black apart from a grey jumper, that Harry didn't see when he had his back to him due to his cloak, his jumper was lined in emerald green around the cuffs and neckline. The boy gave Harry and suspicious look and then swept out of the shop. Harry looked towards the man when he heard him chuckle, Harry gave him a confused questionable look.

"He's a right haggler that Snape he is. If it was anyone else I wouldn't let them get away with it, cheeky little bugger, but seeing as he's had a difficult life..." The man coughed uncomfortably. "Well, enough of talk like that, how may I help you lad?" he asked.

"Can I please have a first year set of potion ingredients, but also could I have some spare ingredients? It's just in case I make a mistake." Harry asked.

"Ah, of course young sir, well, firstly here is the first year set and it comes complete with a not-blunt blade and five vials. You'd be wanting the ingredients that first years normally have difficulty with, yes?" And with Harry's nod, he wandered of to the back room muttering some weird and unfamiliar words that Harry could only guess were potion ingredients. He came back a few minutes later.

"I've given you an extra batch of Porcupine Quills and most first years forget to take the cauldron off the fire, two Jobberknoll feathers that are used in the forgetfulness potion, dried nettles, a handful of beetle eyes, a spring of peppermint and a gar of ginger roots. Should you find that you need to acquire more, I'm going to give you an order form, just send it with an owl and you will receive your ingredients within seven days." The man informed Harry, while added his extra ingredients to his standard first year set.

"Oh, and one more thing sir, I need a set of protective gloves as well." Harry said suddenly remembered. The man nodded, disappeared and came back a few seconds later.

"Right then, that will be 10 galleons, 18 sickles and 9 knuts. Hang on, just make it 10 galleons and 18 sickles." He informed Harry after he placed the protective gloves on the pile and wrapped them in brown paper. Harry handed the man his card.

"Thank you very much sir. Could you shrink them and place a timer on them to unshrink at 9 o clock? Please could you shrink my cauldron as well? I didn't want to ask the man..."Harry finished of slightly embarrassed but the man only laughed.

"Not a problem lad, I wouldn't ask Wilbert, that's his name, to shrink anything for me either. A right rotten old sod he is." He said and he shrunk Harry's items.

Harry thanked the man, placed his shrunken potion ingredients in his pocket and headed out towards the busy alley. Harry had only made it a couple of steps before he was hit in the side and sent flying to the floor. Harry landed on his side and his elbow hit the cobbled stone hard and Harry could swear he heard his skin scrape against the edge of the stone. Harry gritted his teeth as he felt the familiar stinging of a cut being opened.

Turning himself on his back, Harry was assaulted with a mass of long red hair, the distant sound of laughter and an ear piercing screech that could rival Miss Cole's.

"POTTER"

**-End of Chapter 5-**

Ah ha, you'll all have to wait and see who it is, but you can probably guess :P

What did you think?

Please review! Hopefully the next chapter will be uploaded soon.

**NOTE: **Wand Cores and Magical Properties

• Phoenix Feather – Very Magical.  
• Dragon Heartstring – Hexes are a specialty of this core.  
• Unicorn Tail – Best for the pure of heart.  
• Leprechaun Hair – Somewhat temperamental to Non-Irish.  
• Demiguise Hair – Only the best for Transfiguration.  
• Hippogriff Talon – Excellent for Charm Work.  
• Runespoor Fang – Best for those who deal with Dark Magic.  
• Hair from the Mane of a Kelpie – Superb for all spells.  
• Chimera Scale – Very rare, yet very powerful.  
• Ashwinder Ash – Casts the best protection charms.

This was from; the order of the phoenix *dot* net Just get rid of the spaces and add the dot if you want to check out the website.

The best one I think that helped me a lot was this website;

http:/ wizardingrealm. ? showtopic=7791

Just remove the space between the / and Wizarding, the space between the dot and net and the space between the question mark and show.

It has loads of detail about different wand cores and the details of all of the different type of wood as well. For example, this I found very interesting;

Flexibility:  
The flexibility of a wand is generally a measurement of its willingness to work for its chosen Witch or Wizard. A witch with a whippy wand might learn spells faster than a wizard with a rigid wand, but the wizard with a rigid wand will have more spell strength once he finally masters it. Rigid and inflexible wands are the hardest to master, but dependent on their core and wood, can be the most powerful. There is also an element of material inherent- it is rare to find a whippy mahogany wand or a stiff reed wand.

The scale, from speed to strength:  
whippy easiest to learn and cast, least powerful  
swishy  
flexible  
springy  
sturdy  
inflexible  
rigid hardest to learn and cast, most powerful

delicate – a special case. It takes special care to learn spells with this wand, but it is rarely extremely powerful. They tend to choose witches and wizards with somewhat frail personalities, and once a spell is learned, although it is not as strong, it is extremely reliable.


	6. The Fall

**Notice: **Here is the next chapter for you all, thankyou so much for all the story alerts-I've simply got loads! And a special thankyou to those who have reviewed, I do like hearing what you all think. Happy Reading! :)

Harry Potter in a Different World- Chapter 6 The Fall

Harry had only made it a couple of steps before he was hit in the side and sent flying to the floor. Harry landed on his side and his elbow hit the cobbled stone hard and Harry could swear he heard his skin scrape against the edge of the stone. Harry gritted his teeth as he felt the familiar stinging of a cut being opened.

Turning himself on his back, Harry was assaulted with a mass of long red hair, the distant sound of laughter and an ear piercing screech that could rival Miss Cole's.

"POTTER"

Harry looked up, through the mass of red hair that was flying in every direction due to the wind and saw two dark haired teenagers sniggering to each other, one leaning on the other. One of the boys had hazel eyes framed by round glasses and short black hair while the other had long wavy black hair and sparkling grey eyes. There was another boy with light brown hair and amber eyes, he also had a few scars on his face, he wasn't laughing but Harry's attention was soon taken by the red headed girl who was literally screeching in his ear and he caught a glimpse of bright green eyes.

"Are you alright?" She asked softly, Before Harry could answer the red headed girl shot up suddenly and hit the two dark haired boys over the head,

"Stop laughing you two, it's not funny. Were you not looking where you were going? Why are you still laughing POTTER? This is not a laughing matter, he could seriously be hurt!" the red headed girl spat like a riled up cobra. The boy she called Potter stopped laughing, but soon started off again when the other boy imitated the redheaded girl, he lost it again.

"Why are you still laughing Potter?" The long haired boy screeched in a mocking imitation of the still fuming girl.

"And _you _Black, he's only little. Probably a first year and you go and knock him over rampaging with Potter like a couple of hyper Hippogriffs and not bother to help him up. All because you two are obsessed with _brooms_, and don't you try to deny it; I saw it all from the shop across the alley." She huffed and glared at the boys who were unsuccessfully trying to muffle their laughter.

The boy with the light brown hair and amber eyes looked slightly embarrassed when he looked at the two laughing boys; he bent down towards Harry and gave a small reassuring smile.

"Hey," he said, his tone slightly louder than usual because of the redheaded girls shouting, "Sorry about them two, they're always acting like idiots. I'm Remus, Remus Lupin."

"Harry, Harry Walker." Harry replied with a small smile. Remus made a move to help him stand up but when he grabbed his hand Harry hissed and grimaced when a sharp pain shot up and down his arm. Remus carefully turned his arm around and frowned when his saw a pretty large cut on the outside of Harry's elbow.

The redheaded girl had stopped shouting when he heard Harry hiss in pain, the two dark haired boys had also stopped laughing. The two boys looked very guilty when they saw that the cut had been bleeding heavily and felt even guiltier when they saw the small boy who as still sat on the floor blinking back tears.

Lily was silent for a few second before she went into complete rant mode and the two boys who were looking slightly afraid.

"_HURT, _he's hurt! You've hurt him! You pair of bumbling baboons! How could you! Look at him, there's blood all over his arm. You insensitive piles of owl droppings! Just you wait till we're at school, wait until I can use my wand..." The red headed girl continued her full on rant at the two dark haired boys, much to the amusement of the onlookers; Remus carefully helped him up off the ground wary of the injury on his arm.

Harry saw Remus wince and shuffle his legs as the redheaded girl made some terrifying threats to damaging specific parts of the male anatomy, complete with hand gestures making the two dark haired boys pale dramatically and cup their crown jewels. Remus cleared his throat and began to talk with Harry.

"We'll get Mrs Potter, that's James's mum, to have a look at that arm of yours, she's a healer at St Mungo's you now. Now that's James, there, the boy with the glasses and messy birds nest hair. The other dark haired boy who is currently on his knees dramatically pleading for his affects to be kept intact is Sirius Black. And the fiery redheaded girl is Lily Evans, who was dating James, but the way it's going...it seems that James is going to be without a girlfriend or something else." Remus chucked.

A slightly relieved looking James and Sirius came over followed by a surprising calm and satisfied looking Lily.

"Everyone, this is Harry Walker. Harry, I've already said who these are but I'll point them out to you anyway. That's James, Sirius, Lily." Remus finished the introduction and everyone said hello or 'yo' in Sirius' case.

"Hello" Harry replied, after he had looked at everyone once more.

"James, we're going to take Harry to your mother. She's at the Leaky Cauldron, right?" Remus asked his friend who nodded.

The group made there way up to the Leaky Cauldron, Harry could see that James and Sirius were pulling faces behind Lily's back, silently daring each other to get as close as possible without getting caught.

Remus shook his head and decided to strike up a conversation,

"So then Harry, what are you doing here by yourself?" Remus asked, all the while glancing around subtly for the boys' parents.

"Shopping, I'm starting Hogwarts this year." Harry replied proudly and happily, his eyes sparking with mirth, sticking his little chest out slightly. Remus laughed a little while the others just smiled at the obvious delight of Harry's excitement at attending Hogwarts.

The group entered the Leaky Cauldron and they all sat down at a table where a woman with dark brown hair was reading a newspaper, she had a glass filled with a purple liquid and Harry could only guess what drink this was.

"Mrs Potter," Remus said, causing the woman to look at the group in front of her table, "Could you have a look at Harrys arm? He's got a pretty nasty cut on his elbow due to two bumbling idiots."

"Of course dear, and remember call me Helen. Come here Harry; let's see how bad the damage is." Helen Potter said going straight into nurse mode, she pulled out her wand to run a diagnostic charm on Harrys arm.

"It's just a clean cut, slightly deep hence the blood. No sign of infection but we'd better clean it out just to make sure. Come on everyone; sit down and I'll have Charles get you all a butterbeer, when I can find him that is. Tom has a floo network that I can use so I can quickly floo to St Mungo's and get a healing slave and a bandage. Here, Harry, let me place a minor numbing charm on your arm. Is it still hurting you?" Helen Potter asked kindly.

Harry nodded slowly as he sat down, Remus next to him while James, Sirius and Lily took the seats opposite leaving the seat next to Harry free for Mrs Potter.

Harry saw Mrs Potter wave her wand over his arm and he felt a tingling sensation and the pain lesson, Harry smiled in thanks before she headed off to the fireplace. Mrs Potter had intercepted a dark haired man with glasses who looked remarkably like James and had pointed to the group of children and then to the bar before she continued on her way to the fireplace.

While Charles Potter went to the bar to buy them all a butterbeer, James placed his feet on the table and leaned back slightly.

"So, Harry, where are your parents? Are they coming to pick you up? They haven't left you here all on your own have they? That's not very safe, is it? Its not as if you can look after yourself." James asked, Lily and Remus refrained from rolling their eyes with the lack of tact that they're friend showed.

"I haven't got any, if you must know." Harry replied coldly, the talk of parents was a touchy subject for Harry. Lily whacked James upside the head.

"Ow! Lils...Oh right, sorry Harry." James said looking genuinely sorry, whether that was from being hit or not, Harry didn't know, but he nodded in acceptance anyway.

"What have you done now to warrant a hit on the head, son? And from someone other than your mother? Get your feet off the table, where are your manners?" A deep vice asked, Harry looked towards the voice and was faced with the man that looked very similar to James; it was Charles Potter, followed by a levitating tray full of drinks.

"He's being insensitive Mr Potter, that's why he was hit on the head." Lily interjected seeing as James, who was now slightly pink in the cheeks, had refused to answer.

"Is that so James," Charles Potter murmured while handing out the yellowish drink to everyone, he received a nod of thanks from Sirius who began to drink deeply as soon as he got the drink in his hands, "Best to think before you speak son, or you'll find yourself in much more trouble than a hit on the head. Sirius, manners." Charles Potter said sharply making Harry jump slightly. Sirius had burped rather loudly that had many customers looking over in disgust. Harry saw Sirius flush and hastily grab a napkin to wipe his white froth covered mouth.

"Sorry Mr P." Sirius said, while folding up his napkin neatly, sitting up straight with one leg crossed over his knee. James sniggered which turned into a badly turned cough when his father turned to glare at him.

Harry smiled slightly and turned to inspect his yellow-ish looking drink with an inch thick of white froth on the top,

'What on earth was it?' Harry thought, while leaning forwards to get a closer look. Harry heard a deep chuckle and looked up to meet the amusing gazed of Charles Potter.

"It's alright lad, it's perfectly safe to drink. It's Butterbeer; it's a little bit like butterscotch in taste but less sickly. Goes down nice and smooth, just try it; if you don't like it I'll get you another drink. So, you're Harry, the little lad with the grazed elbow?" Charles asked with a smile that soon turned into a smirk when Harry took his first sip of the Butterbeer.

Harry's eyes widened and he had to stop himself from draining the whole goblet, this drink was like heaven, it was just...perfect.

Harry and Charles chatted happily about different things such as the lessons at Hogwarts, the Ministry and all of its different sections; Harry was very interested in chess after finding out that Wizard chess pieces move and talk. James and Sirius were having another competition of some sorts which involved a ripped up napkin and the upturned hat on the next table while Lily and Remus, who had moved to sit near Lily after Mr Potter and Remus exchanged seats, had occupied Helen Potter's newspaper and were debating about a current issue. Harry hardly noticed when Helen Potter came back complete with the peach healing slave and a bandage and started to apply the paste to his elbow.

Harry surprisingly felt comfortable with Mr and Mrs Potter, and he didn't mind talking openly with them, the only person that Harry had had conversations with like this was with Sylvia Turner; his teacher.

Little did Harry know, that Charles and Helen Potter were thinking exactly the same thing. They too were feeling surprisingly very comfortable with talking to Harry, a boy they had just met. But they were also feeling confused and slightly suspicious; Harry had many of the Potter characteristics like the high cheek bones and Harry also looked remarkably like James at eleven years old; despite the small frame, the neater hair and lack of glasses.

The three were interrupted from their musings with the arrival of Tom, who had come over to inquire at Harry's health, when he worriedly caught sight of the blood on Harry's shirt. After being reassured for the fifth time that Harry was perfectly fine by an exasperated Mrs Potter, Tom asked Harry if he was ready to eat.

Before Harry got the chance to reply, James and Sirius who were now throwing bits of the ripped up napkin at each other had shouted out,

"FOOD!" Before Charles could reprimand them about shouting, Helen sent him a look,

"Boys! Don't shout, it's very rude. Tom, would have enough of the special for us all? You are staying aren't you Lily dear?," at Lily's nod she continued and turned to Harry, " That's if Harry doesn't mind if we join you?" Helen Potter asked.

"Not at all." Harry happily replied.

Not five minutes later, Tom came back carrying the utensils while seven plates of steaming hot food levitated behind him, Charles Potter then asked for another round of Butterbeers for the children while he ordered a fizzy Firewhisky as it contained less alcohol and Helen asked for a small glass of Cherry Plum wine.

The seven then tucked into the succulent steak pie, creamy mashed potatoes and fresh garden peas. Sirius covered his food completely in the onion gravy; his pie looked like a sinking boat almost the vast amount of gravy.

Harry had to leave about a quarter of his pie, the pastry was just too filling for Harry but he had finished all of his mash and peas, he'd never had a meal that had filled him up from top to bottom, he shouldn't have really had that Choco Chunky Sundae, but he had to admit; they both were mouth-watering.

Conversation was light due to the fact that everyone was enjoying their food, but Harry didn't mind. It was nice to have dinner with people who liked being around him and were nice to him, it was a comfortable dinner.

When everyone had finished, Tom returned and vanished the plates and asked them if they wanted dessert, the two adults declined but the children happily accepted. Harry asked for blue custard with his sponge pudding, but he insisted that it was a small piece, James and Sirius went for red, Lily asked for pink and Remus asked for yellow.

James and Sirius had started to flick stray peas at each other that were on the table while they waited for desert. One landed in Mr Potter's glass, which they had hurriedly tried to fish out with their hands while he went to the bathroom; luckily they had managed to get it out before he got back. Harry saw Mrs Potter frown at their retrieving methods but said nothing as her husband sat down and took a sip of his drink, he looked slightly confused but drained his glass none the less and Harry swore he saw Mrs Potter's lips twitch in an amused smile as she drank her own drink.

When Harry made his way towards the bar to pay for his meal, the Potters informed him that it was on them; that he needn't pay a thing. Harry reluctantly accepted, but slipped a couple of Galleons into Mrs Potters coat pocket that was on the back of her chair when no one was looking.

Harry made to say his goodbyes but the Potter's were reluctant to send him home on his own due to the fact that it was getting late, Harry refused and said that he had the bus fare and it wasn't that far, but Helen Potter interrupted and stated that they were also accompanying Lily and Remus home and it was their obligation to make sure he got home safely.

Lily offered to call for a mini cab, and Charles agreed and quickly popped to Gringotts to withdraw some muggle money while Helen accompanied Lily and Remus through the floo, leaving James and Sirius to look after Harry.

Fifteen minutes later, the five entered the taxi and Charles was looking extremely uncomfortable in the muggle vehicle and was refrained from casting several charms to see if it was safe when Helen gently squeezed his arm and pulled him in the vehicle. James and Sirius mean while were having a great time messing around with the seatbelts somehow getting intertwined with Sirius's leg reaching over Harry and James's lap and his right hand sticking out of the window, much to the disapproval of the driver and James' parents. Several minutes later, the three boys were comfortably and correctly sat in the back, while Helen and Charles sat opposite in the two pull down separate seats.

A slightly hesitant Harry told the driver where to go; St Mary's Orphanage.

The others exchange surprised looks; Harry had not told them about his past, only that he didn't have any parents and they had slowly understood why, he was uncomfortable with where he lived and he was worried that they would treat him differently.

Harry only hoped that when they got to the orphanage that Miss Cole would be in a good mood and not make a scene; which was highly doubtful. And also that the others wouldn't insist on coming in.

**- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -END OF CHAPTER 6**-** - - - - - - - - - - - - - -**

**Notice: **Thankyou very much for reading and I hope that you all liked it and please leave me a review :)

**Second Note: **I'm not too sure when the next chapter will be uploaded due to the fact that I get my A-Level results on Thursday and I'll be busy sorting things out for University if things do/don't go to plan so fingers crossed!

I'll aimed to get some typing done each night as my dad is at work so I can freely use the family computer without him complaining that I type too loud lol :D


	7. Back to the Orphanage

**Notice: **Here you are my readers, the next chapter for you all! Thankyou for being patient with me. I loved all of the reviews and story alerts. On to more good news, I GOT IN TO UNIVERSITY! Yey! So this is why the chapter is several weeks late than expected as I was sorting things out and I officially start on the 21st of September. So hopefully I can get a few more chapters in before I start.

**Second Notice: **I've got several questions from my reviewers and I'm going to post their answers at the end of the chapter (I've also replied privately to them) so you all can read them in case you were thinking the same thing. Anyway, enough of my rambling, I hope that you enjoy the chapter :)

**Warning**: for bad/mild language and swearing.

Harry Potter in a Different World- Chapter 7 Back to the Orphanage

Ten minutes had passed in silence, no one knowing quite what to say, the sound of the odd horn from other vehicles interrupted their silence. They were stuck in traffic; again, typical London congestion. Harry observed the two adults sat in front of him, Charles Potter was twisted round as far as his seatbelt would allow him and he was looking at the standstill traffic out of the many windows with suspicion, Helen was holding her husbands hand, most probably his wand hand, and she would occasionally rub the top of his hand in small soothing circles and Charles would smile back at her and he visibly relaxed slightly.

Seeing that they weren't making any progress with the traffic, Helen had leaned her head back and had shut her eyes, and Charles had emerged himself into a conversation with the driver about how the taxi moves, Harry had decided to break the silence that still reigned in the taxi.

"James, how come your parents haven't taken Sirius home?" Harry inquired, interrupting the boys who were about to have a thumb war.

"Well...Sirius has had a little bit of a fall out with his family, so -Sirius let _go _of my hand! So my mum and dad said that he can stay at ours. He already comes around every Sunday for a Sunday Roast and finished three extra servings and two different deserts, it's like he already lives with us. He's like my unofficial brother!" James finished with a laugh.

The three boys had then had a mini thumb war tournament, which ended up with Harry getting beaten by both James and Sirius but he didn't mind. The traffic was moving much more quickly now and Charles nearly had a heart attack when the taxi had suddenly sped up and swerved sharply round the corner to avoid yet another red light which only let five cars through before it changed. He was thoroughly told off by an irate Helen Potter when he exclaimed "What the bloody fuck-?" and was told that there was no need for swearing, and that he ought to set an example for the boys. Said boys burst out laughing at his embarrassment.

A further ten minutes later, the taxi pulled up outside St. Mary's Orphanage, and Harry had begun to feel a little nervous. Harry saw movement behind one of the windows and before Harry could say a word or even open the door to the taxi, the front door to the orphanage opened with a loud bang an out came a very angry looking Miss Cole, who had unfortunately, began to shriek in her awful voice. But luckily for those who remained in the taxi, her annoying voice was muffled due to the fact that the taxi blocked out most of her noise.

"Boy! Where on earth have you been? I was just about to call the police, what were you doing that caused you to be out until this late? No, don't even bother to spread one of your little lies. You're an ungrateful little sod, scrounging my good earned money and waltzing off for hours and not coming back until you feel like it. Well, I just won't stand for it. Now you will get up those stairs right now and stay there _without_ supper and I will decide your punishment tomorrow." She angrily stated, glaring at Harry who was still sat stock still in the taxi. It seemed to Harry that she didn't realise that there were others in the taxi listening in shock to every word that was said.

"B-But Miss Cole, you didn't tell me what time I had to be back for..."Harry said only to be cut off my Miss Cole, who was looking slightly deranged, with her eyes were wide with fury, and her hair was slipping out from her tight bun.

"No enough! I will not be questioned or interrupted! I am in charge and you will do as I say, just because you're going away to a _special _school does not give you the right to do as you please. You will find that when you return from this school that things will change. _Now get your things and get upstairs!_" She hissed fiercely, spit flying on the window, and stomped back up the stairs and slammed the doors behind her.

Harry just sat there, he was too shocked to move or say anything. _What an earth had got into her? She's lost it,_ Harry thought, _she's never acted like this before; perhaps she's gone totally bonkers with the stress of running this place. And what does she mean that things will change when I get back from school..._

The others were shocked and surprised as Harry, even the driver looked slightly disturbed by the crazy shouting woman.

_Was this what the poor boy has to face everyday? What a frightful awful woman! No one should talk to a child like that, I've half a mind to march up those steps my self and..._Helen Potter's thoughts were interrupted by the very same boy she was thinking about.

"Um...Mrs Potter, please could you unshrink my things? So she can see that I have actually been shopping for my school supplies that is if she's actually watching me or has got one of her little spies to tell on me,"Seeing the doubtful look, Harry continued, "I wouldn't put it past her, it's something that she would do." Harry asked, all the while taking out all of his shrunken equipment that looked like miniature dolls house furniture in size and placing it on the floor.

Helen discreetly pulled out her wand and cast a silent charm, however this did not make Harrys belongings unshrink; it made the driver slump forward slightly in his seat. At Harry's confused and expectant expression she added,

"Don't worry Harry; it was just a mild sleeping charm. This one is mainly used on children so he'll only be out of it for fifteen minutes or so because of his size. Now, he will have no idea that when we entered the mini cab we had no luggage and when we leave we had." She said smiling slightly. She then proceeded to unshrink Harry's things and with a small pop, they were back to their original sizes; all wrapped in brown paper. There was quite a lot in here; there was barely any leg room for them all and Sirius had immaturely jumped into James' lap and squealed,

"James, James! Oh my dearest Jamie-boy, you have to save me from the invasion of the brown paper! They're trying to turn the muggle vehicle into 'Boring Ville'. And look! A horrible cauldron shaped one is trying to swallow my foot!" Sirius then swooned and screamed climbing higher into James' lap, covering his head with his hands. Causing Harry to burst out into peels of laughter.

"O-Ouch! Padfoot, that was my eye! Ew, get your finger out of my ear, who knows where it's been. And get off me you daft idiot, your too heavy! No more extra helpings for you. Stop laughing you guys, it's not funny, and he weighs as much as old Slughorn." James huffed as everyone continued to laugh while Sirius sputtered with indignation as he was compared to this person.

"Now boys, that's enough," Helen Potter lightly scolded, "Help Harry in with his things and we'll...oh dear the driver is already waking up; well, he is quite a heavy set man. Quickly now boys before he sees all of these bags and boxes. Harry will show you where to go while me and Charles will settle the bill, Now Charles where did you put the muggle money?" She finished of with a whisper.

Harry exited the minicab with two brown packages in his arms, so that he will be able to open the doors, while James and Sirius picked up the remaining bags and bounded out of the vehicles like excited puppies trying to look around which was quite difficult seeing as they had their arms full.

"Well, come on then Harry-kins, lead the way to your humble abode." Sirius joyfully stated while walking up the steps, following Harry with James right behind him. Sirius had a hold of Harry's trunk with several little boxes on top.

Harry gave a bitter laugh, "I wouldn't call it that, and be quiet you two. We're not supposed to have unauthorized visitors this late, Miss Cole will flip her lid if she finds out." Harry said while opening the front doors.

"Flip her lid? Is that a muggle saying? If it is, then I'm saying that she's flipped it all right and completely lost it on the way back to screwing it on." Sirius laughed which turned into a yelp as Harry stood sharply on his foot.

"Shush, I don't want any of the other kids to hear us." Harry exclaimed seriously but it lost its seriousness as Harry himself was trying to muffle his laughter and if Harry could have seen James, then he would have seen his biting his lip to stop his laughter.

The trio continued their way in silence, with Harry's whisper of 'Careful now, we're going up two flights of stairs so watch your step. I don't want any of my things breaking due to your clumsiness.' The two were about to protest when Harry gracefully turned round on the steps and gave them both a playful grin silently letting them know that he was only teasing them.

They stopped a few minutes later, with James nearly barging into Sirius. Sirius noted that they were stood outside a door that said _Room 26B_.

Harry quickly opened the door and placed his things on the bed, followed by James and Sirius. James and Sirius looked slightly shocked at the bareness of the room, there were a few drawings stuck on the walls of the beach, a cave, a woman reading a book, and a few animals; but they weren't drawn in colour, just pencil shading so it did nothing to brighten up the room; but both boys had to admit that they were very good.

The two were startled when Harry roughly pushed past them and went to the messy book shelf and pulled off a small note. They watched as Harrys small frame shook slightly and he scrunched the note up in his fist before dropping it to the ground and racing out of the room leaving the two boys bewildered.

James walked forward and picked up the small bit of paper, smoothed it out and held it so that Sirius could read it.

_Freak Boy, _

_Word has reached me that you managed to swindle some money out of the old bag, well, I want what's left. Should you refuse, one of your books will be__ trotting__ into the fire. Hurry up loser, time is ticking and who knows how long I'll wait._

James and Sirius shared a look and their faces darkened; they came to a decision without speaking before bolting out of the door and running down the stairs where they could hear loud voices.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^-BACK WITH HARRY-^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Harry placed his things on the bed, watching as James and Sirius did the same. Harry watched them not so subtly observe his room, he knew it wasn't much but it was all he had and he turned away, not wanting their pity; they probably had everything that they wanted.

Harry caught sight of his bookshelf, his messy bookshelf. He didn't leave it like that, everything was always left neat and tidy, Harry saw a small note stuck to his shelf. He hurriedly made his way toward the shelf, pushing past James and Sirius and he violently ripped it off the shelf.

Harry was bristling in anger, crumpling up the note in his fist; Harry roughly threw it to the ground and nearly ran out of the room, not paying any attention to the two boys in his room.

Harry knew exactly where to go, running down one flight of stairs to the first floor to Michael's room.

_How dare he do something like this_, Harry thought, _after the last time he had backed off and left me alone; he seems to have grown a backbone since he found out that I'll be leaving._

Harry opened the door roughly, the door banging and bouncing off the wall, and Harry saw with satisfaction that Michael jumped from his position on the bed, and he was alone.

Michael slowly got up off the bed and smirked, "Well, I'm glad you finally came. It's good to know that a loser knows his place. Now, where is my money-" but he was cut off by Harry who had grabbed him by the front of his shirt and had shoved him up against the wall. Despite being smaller, Harry kept Michael from struggling and he was easily able to restrict his kicking and shoving; little did Harry know that his magic was helping him by pinning Michael against the wall, making him stronger.

"Now, you listen to me. Where is my book? You've taken it once before and I know it's you who have done it again. Now where is it?" Harry demanded, his eyes glowing the intense green like they did several years ago.

"Un-under the bed." Michael stuttered, eyes widening in fear as Harry removed his left hand from Michael's shirt, palm side up and the book flew into his hands.

"Listen close and listen good Michael," Harry sneered, "I'm only going to tell you once more. I'm not going to take anymore shit from you. You can't bully me and tell me what to do anymore; I've had enough of it and you can tell your little band of pathetic followers as well. It ends here, now, you are to stay away from me, you will not talk to me unless it is necessary, you will not touch me and you are to never touch my belongings without my permission. These are my rules and you will follow them. You don't want a repeat of the last time you angered me. Do you understand?" Harry asked, breathing heavily and deeply as he tried to calm himself down. But his anger soon built up again when Michael refused to answer so Harry pulled him away from the wall slightly and shoved him back up against it. Hard.

"I said, do you understand?" Harry demanded, vaguely shocked himself at his actions but it didn't fully register what he was doing. The adrenaline was making him feel unshakeable, unbeatable-powerful.

Michael winced and quickly nodded.

"Good." Harry said, and he walked out of his room clutching his book in a vice-like grip. He didn't see the two surprised and stunned looking teenagers just around the corner.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^-BACK WITH JAMES AND SIRIUS-^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

A slightly out of breath James and Sirius made their way down the first set of stairs, intent of finding Harry and helping him. They stopped at the first floor when they heard raised voices; they slowed down and looked at each other in shock as they heard Harry's angry voice,

"...without my permission. These are my rules and you will follow them. You don't want a repeat of the last time you angered me. Do you understand?" They heard Harry say; there was silence for a couple of seconds so they stuck their heads round the door to see what was going on. They were more than shocked when they saw the usually nice, polite and calm boy slam another boy hard against the wall, so hard it made the other boy wince.

"I said, do you understand?" Harry demand, James and Sirius saw the other boy wince and quickly nod.

"Good." Harry said, and the two boys quickly hid around the corner before Harry could see them. The two teenagers shared stunned looks as they waited patiently for Harry to walk past.

"Bloody hell James, did you see that?" Sirius whispered, looking around making sure that they weren't seen.

"Yeah. Come on, let's go. Mum and dad will be wondering what's taking us so long." James said.

"I can't believe it," Sirius said, while walking down to the ground floor, "he was so nice and friendly albeit a little shy when we first met him. But look at him when he's back here! He's completely different. That one will definitely be a snake." Sirius stated confidently.

"Do you really think so Padfoot? He could have been provoked, after all, who wouldn't get wound up because of what that note said. I would have done the same thing if I were him. I mean, look at us lot and old Snivellus, we're always at each others throats, it's just the same thing." James stressed to his friend, trying to reason with him.

"Maybe Prongs, but look at it like this. At least we know with Snivellus that he'll always be a slimy git. But with Harry, he could be faking it; you know pretending to be nice and all to gain our trust, to get information off us. Merlin, your mum bloody adores him already and we only just met him a couple of hours ago; see that's how far he's sunk his fangs in. That's definitely a slimy snake's attitude." Sirius said, nodding to emphasise his point.

"But Pads, don't you think we should just ask him about what happened instead of just coming up with random suggestions? I think your going a bit over the top here really. A spy, come on Padfoot?" James asked, and nearly ran into Sirius as he stopped suddenly.

"No," Sirius said sounded quiet astounded at the suggestion, and carried on walking "He could get violent, didn't you seem him shove the other lad against the wall? And the other lad was bigger than him. No we should just keep an eye on him. We mustn't tell Lily or Remus, just limit the contact that they have just in case he is a spy. After all, You Know Who lived and grew up in an Orphanage and look how he turned out."

James looked rather sceptical, but didn't get a chance to reply as Charles Potter popped his head round the front door and beckoned them over with his hand. The four of them then entered the nearest empty back street and apparated away from the Orphanage with a small crack, with James still contemplating on what Sirius had said.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^-BACK WITH HARRY-^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Harry walked back to his room feeling quite drained and exhausted, Harry had never acted like that before; he'd never been physical towards someone not counting his magic that he used several years ago to blast Michael down the corridor. What surprised Harry the most is that he enjoyed standing up for himself, but he was quite shocked with the power he had felt.

Sighing to himself, Harry entered his room to find that James and Sirius had left. Harry couldn't blame them, he had just rushed off without saying a single word to them and he had forgotten to say thankyou and goodbye to Charles and Helen Potter. He doubted that they would still be in the minicab.

Harry placed his treasured book on back on the bookshelf before closing the door. It was always this book that the other boys targeted. Harry turned to his bed ready to throw himself down when he realised that all of his Hogwarts things were still on his bed, one by one he picked them up and placed them under his bed vowing to sort them out and look through them tomorrow.

Harry got changed and ready for bed, telling himself that he would have a shower tomorrow as it was too late now. Miss Cole would probably scold him for using the hot water at this time, as the Orphanages current boiler sounded like a sputtering car when it started to warm up water.

Harry gratefully climbed into bed eager for sleep; he pulled the covers up to his chin and waited for sleep to claim him, all the while thinking that he couldn't wait to go to Hogwarts.

^^^^^^^-END OF CHAPTER-^^^^^^^

**Note: **Thankyou all for reading and please leave me a review. The next chapter should be uploaded within the week. This story is planned out and I know where it's going, it's just taking me time to type it all up.

This question was asked by **darkplayer35**

1. Are you going to have Harry learn about his parentage soon?

_Yes, Harry will find out in his first year but it will take a while, probably after Christmas as Harry tries different methods_

The following questions were asked by **TachanGyn**

1. Wonder where will Harry end? In Slytherin, Ravenclaw or Gryyfindor?

_I will give you a clue, it's between Slytherin and Gryffindor._

2. And what will they all do when they realise that he is the son of James and Lily!

_You'll have to wait and find out but it probably wont happen till Harrys second year_

3. Will Harry ever remember his past?

_Yes-through flashbacks and dreams. In Harrys second year he will remember everything due to a certain event that I'm not going to reveal just yet :D_

**Thanks again for reading, I hope that you all liked it :)**


	8. Queries and Learning

**Notice:**Here's the next chapter, it's a little shorter than I wanted but the next chapter will be longer. Thankyou again for all of the reviews, story alerts and favourite stories, I really appreciate them, especially those who have taken the time to review.

**Second Notice:**I've got several more questions from my reviewers and I'm going to post their answers at the end of the chapter (I've also replied privately to them) like I did last time so you all can read them in case you were thinking the same thing.

**I just want to make something clear that I may have mentioned at the end of a previous chapter, Voldemort is dead and the current Dark Lord is Gellert Grindelwald-more about this will be in the next chapter. Thankyou.**

Harry Potter in a Different World- Chapter 8 Queries and Learning

After apparating back to Potter Manor with the boys, Helen and Charles Potter made sure that James and Sirius were upstairs with specific instructions not to go anywhere, invite anyone over or go outside; just the general rules that the adults left the teens with.

The boys seemed very quiet and complied without much fuss like they usually did when they were told that they'd be in the manor by themselves. There was no demand for sweets, no cheeky replies; they both looked quite pensive.

As soon as they said goodbye to the boys, Helen and Charles hurried downstairs to the fireplace in the casual living room, hoping that they wouldn't be flooing by to late.

Charles Potter grabbed a generous amount of floo powder from the marble pot on the mantle, he gentle grabbed Helen round the waist gently but firmly and threw the powder in the fireplace and shouted,

"Albus Dumbledore: Hogwarts, Lemon drops" the fire flickered twice in the acceptance of the password and the couple stepped through.

They elegantly walked out of the fireplace into Albus Dumbledore's office at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Said wizard was at his desk, currently signing numerous important documents. He was wearing a purple cloak with silver stars in various places. When the sound of the floo being activated was heard, Albus lifted his head and put down his elegant quill and waited for his guests to step through; it was none other that Charles and Helen Potter.

"Good evening Albus, I hope it's not a bother having us here this late. We really need to speak to you on a matter. If you're busy we could come back later?" Helen suggested, but Albus only shook his head and smiled.

"It's not a problem my dear, I'm just signing some forms for the ministry for the upcoming school year, please have a seat," Albus instructed while conjuring two comfy red and gold armchairs and they both accepted, "What can I help you with?"

"Evening Albus," Charles Potter greeted with a nod of his head, "The reason as to why we are here is that my wife and I feel a, what do you call it...a kind of connection to a young boy. We met him earlier today in Diagon Alley and he just felt so familiar to us both." The current Lord Potter uncharacteristically fumbled with his choice of words.

"What are the possibilities of you just liking him as a person, or a friend?" Albus asked, steeping his fingers on his chin, elbows resting on the desk in front of him.

"It's more than that Albus," Helen Potter stressed, "He has many of the Potter characteristics and looks; both of which you know are genetic and are passed down generation to generation."

"Exactly Albus, this lad, he's the exact replica of James at eleven years old. Slightly on the small size but us Potters don't have our growth spurts until their twelfth or thirteenth birthday. He has the same high cheek bones and shaped eyes and I'd bet anything that he'll have the same Potter knobbly knees!" Charles nearly shouted, Helen placed a calming hand on her husbands arm.

"Calm down dear. He's right though Albus, we feel so comfortable talking to him. It feels like he belongs with us. There is definitely something there." Helen finished quietly.

There was nothing but silence in the Headmasters office, there was the odd muttering from some of the portraits that had been listening with interest.

"Hmmm..."Albus mused, lost in thought, "I might have an idea of what you're experiencing. This young man might be a distant blood relative to either one of you. It's not that common and there are very few cases of it recorded but it seems to me that a Blood Bond has been created between the three of you. Let me explain the best I can, the head of a most prominent pureblood family would be able to feel those who are of nearest kin to them. The relative in question is completely ignorant to their family history. The bond will not harm you or the lad in question if you choose to ignore it. I'm afraid that I can't make it any clearer for you, there may be something in the ministry archives Charles if you wish to know more. But let me ask you one question, and answer truthfully with the first thing that comes into your head. What are your immediate feelings towards him?" Albus seriously asked.

"Motherly love." Helen answered promptly.

"Protective." Charles answered, not that far behind his wife.

Albus's blue eyes twinkled happily behind his half moon glasses at their answers and he clapped merrily.

"Wonderful, just wonderful," he smiled. "And just who is this mystery boy, may I ask?"

Helen and Charles Potter nodded and smile to each other before saying together,

"Harry Walker." Albus's twinkle in his eyes dimmed a little and his smile came rather forced.

"He'll be starting his first year in a couple of weeks Albus, do you know him?" Helen inquired.

"Yes, I've met him once and I know his situation. I accompanied Minerva on one of her last visits to the muggleborn children. Very peculiar..." Albus wondered off, staring at Fawkes' empty perch.

"Albus..." Charles prompted, causing Albus to startle in his musings, "Do you think you can help up? Could he be a descendent of the Potter's somehow?"

"Quite possibly Charles. He could be an unknown child of a distant relative that you've lost contact with. You'll have to look in quite detail at your family tree Charles, especially as some members were expelled from the family. If I remember correctly, your eldest aunt Elvina had five children by two different marriages and two of the five children; Lindsey and Peyton were disinherited due to reasons I do not know. It is possible that Harry could be a child to either one of those if both Peyton and Lindsey decided to start a family." Albus finished off, leaving Charles lost in deep thought.

"But there still is a large chance that he could be a Potter then? Well, we can go and get him and he can live at the Manor with us. I hate to see him still living there in that awful orphanage with that dreadful and unpleasant woman..." Helen started, going off on one of her rants but stopped when she saw Albus shaking his head sadly.

"I'm sorry to have to tell you this, especially since you've had so much thought on the matter in such short time. But adopting Harry and taking him home with you is quite impossible." Albus regretfully stated all while pulling out a plain folder out of the top draw to his desk; he opened it up and pulled out several important looking sheets of parchment.

"I've been in contact with both magical and muggle child protection services due to Mr Walkers special circumstances. Do you not know?" Albus asked, when they both shock their head in the negative Albus pushed his half moon glasses further up his nose as he began to read from the parchment.

"Name Harry Logan Ramiro Walker, that's quite a name; not as long as mine though," Albus chuckled before continuing, "Age eleven, height and weight no I'm not looking for that...ah, here were are, lets see '...regretfully the child in question will be unable to complete the adoption process due to the complications at when he was found. The government and local authorities deemed it unsafe to allow the process to be completed. Therefore the above named child will remain in the care of Social Services until he reaches the age of 16, where then he will be moved to a half-way house or a hostel and will be advised into taking further education or work.' Now, from what I've found out from my contacts with the ministry of magic is that young Harry was found in the middle of London at around the age of 5 with several minor injuries and he was seemingly abandoned with no recollection of his past. The local authorities that dealt with Harry are very reluctant to let him leave with a family due to the possible danger of being left with someone that caused his injuries in the first place. And so he has lived and grown up in St Mary's Orphanage ever since." Albus sadly concluded, feeling genuinely sorry for the couple sat in front of him.

Helen visibly sank in her seat and Charles frowned deeply.

"Charles," Helen Potter said turning to her husband, "If we're going to continue with this, we need to make sure that Harry is definitely a Potter. We need valid proof that we can show the ministry and the muggle authorities. You need to get a very detail family tree and a complete historical background check done on the Lindsey and Peyton, the Potter's that were disowned. Otherwise anyone could claim to be Harry's relatives."

Albus nodded in agreement.

"Yes, I will do that." Charles reassured his wife, "Albus, thankyou very much for your assistance and I'm sorry for coming at such short notice. I hope that we haven't caused you any inconvenience." Albus waved off his last comment and stood up from his desk.

Charles and Helen also stood up and made their way to the fireplace, Albus not far behind them.

"I wish you both the best of luck and if you need anything, don't hesitate to drop by; I will keep an eye on Mr Walker when he gets here." Albus reassured the couple as he shook their hands.

"Thankyou Albus, I really appreciate everything." Helen Potter smiled before she took a handful of floo powder and shouted, "Potter Manor: Cheshire" before disappearing through the green flames.

"One more thing Albus, must you have a candy for a password?" Charles said, "I feel absolutely ridiculous saying it." And with a shake of his head, he followed his wife into the still lingering green flames. The sound of Albus Dumbledore chuckling in amusement behind him was the last thing he heard before he entered the flames.

Both Potter's entered the manor but couldn't help worrying about the little boy in the Orphanage as they made their way to bed.

- - - - - - - -END OF CAHPTER 8- - - - - - -

**Note: **Sorry it's a short chapter, but I just wanted to get it out of the way. The next chapter will definitely be longer and should be uploaded by Sunday. But I hope you liked it and please leave a review.

And here are the questions that I was asked by my lovely reviewers!

-Is Sirius ever going to warm up to Harry? _Yes, around Christmas time._

-And is Harry going to escape the orphanage? _Yep, he will escape before his second year._

-Would Charles Potter check Harry blood line? _He will check the various family members that were disowned but I'm not going to reveal anymore that this._

-Will this be slash? _I'm not sure yet, I haven't really thought of a pairing as I feel it's too early in the story but later on I may hold a poll and let the readers decide._

-Will Harry befriend Snape or ignore each other? _They will ignore each other at first, well Snape will ignore Harry but eventually they will become friends due to a event happening before Christmas_

-And what about Peter? _We will meet Peter on the Hogwarts Express in the next chapter _

-Dumbledore suspects Harry or was it my imagination? _Dumbledore does suspect Harry a little due to the similarities between him a Tom Riddle but he will be keeping a close eye on Harry._

**I just want to make something clear that I may have mentioned at the end of a previous chapter, Voldemort is dead and the current Dark Lord is Gellert Grindelwald-more about this will be in the next chapter.**

-Will Harry have any contact with his friends in the parallel world, and will he at some point be two different people tho with a baby Harry? _Harry will eventually make contact with the parallel world but I don't want to reveal too much, sorry. _


	9. The Platform

**Notice: **Sorry the chapter was a little later than I said it was going to be, but I made up for it, I hope, as it's my longest chapter yet with 7,743 words and just over 17 pages! Every chapter I post I get like 10 story alerts and I'm like, wow. Thankyou all so much!

Thanks to those who took the time to review, your comments make me happy; it's nice to know what others think of my story. :)

Finally a special thanks to my regular reviewers who have reviewed numerous (3+) times; Verox29, **farwalker**, John777, **TanchanGyn**, darkplayer35 & **mitremlap.**

Harry Potter in a Different World- Chapter 9 The Platform 

The next couple of weeks passed very slowly and uneventfully for Harry. This was due to the fact that Michael had taken a last minute revenge on Harry and had told Miss Cole that he had beaten him up and trashed his room; the latter being a complete lie so now Harry was confined to his bedroom only coming out for meals and bathroom breaks; only for them to be taken in solitude, but Harry didn't mind.

Fortunately for Harry, he had a couple of days before Miss Cole decided on his punishment and Harry took that time to sneak out of the orphanage and spend the galleons that he had converted into muggle money and buy some nicer and better looking clothes of greater quality in London than the standard cheap stuff that the orphanage provided.

He came back with six bags full of clothes, three bags in each hand. Luckily the local shopping centre was only a ten minute walk away. He now had a complete new wardrobe, the young woman in the shop had helped him greatly in deciding what would suit him and he now knew his correct size. He purchased a black jacket, three checked shirts in different colours, a set of five plain coloured t-shirts, three jumpers, three pairs of jeans, two pairs of light coloured pants, a pair of black low top vans that had white laces that Harry loved as soon as he tried them on, seven pairs of new socks and a complete set of underwear.

Harry blushed bright red when the woman asked him if he wanted boxers of briefs, and then proceeded to pull them out of the packet to show him when he failed to answer. Harry shyly pointed to the boxers looking everywhere apart from the young woman's face.

Thankfully, the exchange rate from galleons to pounds was extremely generous and Harry had plenty of money to cover the total cost. Harry's good luck had continued when he returned to the orphanage as Sylvia Turner opened the front door for him and ushered him inside before anyone could see.

Sylvia had given Harry the rest of the booklets on how to speak Italian as Miss Cole had instructed her that no one was to interact with Harry throughout his 'punishment'.

She had skilfully pushed them under his door with a few pages of written notes by Sylvia herself on how to correctly pronounce the words. Harry was now successfully fluent in French, Spanish and Latin and so decided to start on a fourth language.

As it turns out, Harrys feeling that learning Latin was important all those years ago came in handy as many of the spells were based around Latin and were spoken in Latin.

But at least he was lucky enough to have been allowed to keep his Hogwarts school supplies and he could keep busy by reading and learning all of his textbooks off by heart; which he had done by the first week of his punishment and he was now in the process of re-reading them for the third time.

Much to Harry's delight, his imprisonment that Harry had taken to calling it, gave him the perfect opportunity to practice magic without anyone interrupting.

Harry decided to practice wandless magic, due to the rule that you weren't allowed to use your wand outside of school or until you reach the age of seventeen; he wasn't going to risk getting arrested or something for using his wand too much so he had taken to practising Wandless magic for a couples of hours several times a day.

Harry had been pretty annoyed with what he had read in _Wizarding__ Law and Behaviour by Magnus John Aurelius_, Harry had learned that magical outbursts and minor spells were ignored by the Ministry of Magic when a Wizarding child received their wand due to the majority trying out new spells. And he was going to take full advantage of this.

It took a very frustrated Harry numerous attempts until he was successful at actually doing anything without his wand.

Harry could now proudly summon objects with the spell _accio _with only the first attempt. Harry had also learnt that this was the spell that he had unknowingly used when he had wanted his book to come to him when Michael and his gang stone it from him; although he had said it non-verbally, Harry found that the spell worked better four out of five times if it was said out loud; especially if he was doing it wandlessly.

When Harry did a spell with his wand, Harry found himself ducking quite often when summoning his thick Transfiguration textbook as it came zooming towards his head, colliding successfully before Harry had a chance to duck leaving him with a large goose egg looking bump on his head.

Harry surmised that his wand seemed to be stronger than him so he had to master it, prove that he was worthy to own it. The wand seemed to be testing him of his magical powers and Harry had to often reign in and control the strength that he used for his spells.

At the end of the two weeks Harry could levitate small things for a long time, such as his quills and lighter textbooks with the spell _Wingardium Leviosa _but Harry found out that levitating heavier objects like his chair or desk for example only hovered in the air for a couple of seconds before it came crashing to the ground. Harry noticed that when he attempted to levitate heavier objects, he tended to tire out quickly and so he had to rest for quite a while afterwards.

Other minor, simpler spells that Harry mastered very quickly with wandless magic was _lumos _and _immutamus colour spell_. The immutamus spell was a spell that changed any object a colour that you wanted. Harry pointed his hand a piece of parchment and said _immutamus colour _and then thought clearly of the colour that he wanted and the parchment turned red. The spell wasn't permanent, but the longer Harry practiced, the longer the parchment stayed red before returning to its original state.

The other spell, _lumos_, Harry particularly liked as a small ball of light was conjured in his hands and he could roll it from palm to palm and the light didn't go out. It was slightly warm to hold and Harry could feel a tingling sensation in his hands but didn't hurt him, and Harry could successfully change the colour of the light by intertwining the colour spell with it.

All Harry found that he had to do was to think very carefully of what colour he wanted the light to be before he said _lumos _and the little ball of light would glow blue instead of its usual white as described in the book.

Harry hadn't gotten round to reading his book, _Heritage and You _that he purchased from Diagon Alley yet as he was so engrossed in his school textbooks and practising magic. Harry had said to himself that he would take the book and read it in the library at Hogwarts and see if they had any more books on discovering your Hereditary and family tree.

The night before Harry was due to leave for Hogwarts, he had another strange dream. He dreamt about three children, all around Harry's age. One was a girl and she had bushy brown hair, the other two were boys and one had vivid red hair; the other had raven hair. They all wore black robes and were facing a huge green monster with a giant club in its right hand.

The raven haired boy had jumped on the green monster and it now had a hold of his leg and was dangling him in the air, the red headed boy pulled out his wand out of his robe and before Harry had a chance to find out what happened, he woke up; shaking, panting and dripping with sweating and like all of his other strange dreams, the people had no face and the scene was slightly blurred.

Harry kicked the covers of his body and turned over, his mind swirling. It wasn't easy for Harry to fall back to sleep, the worries over the dream and the excitement at finally attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

* * *

September the first had finally arrived, and Harry dressed in his new clothes that he had bought. He dressed in a dark pair of straight leg jeans, a light blue checked shirt with a white undershirt and his new black vans. He had decided at the last minute to wear his jacket instead of carrying it as it was quite chilly this morning.

It took nearly forty five minutes to get to Kings Cross Station due to the heavy traffic.

Social Services had agreed to pay for the taxi to take him to the station when they were informed that Harry had achieved a scholarship to attend a private school due to the fact that none of the staff at the orphanage could drive.

The driver had helped him by fetching a trolley and placing his trunk on it which surprising wasn't that heavy due to everything that Harry had put inside, but it was still too heavy for Harry to carry; Harry could just about drag it along the floor.

Harry had been very surprised when he found out that he could fit all of his belongings in one trunk. It could comfortably fit all of his Hogwarts supplies; cauldron and telescope including, his own books and all of the clothes he had bought from London plus the clothes he had originally. Harry suspected that it already had an _expanding charm _on it so everything could fit in. Magic was ingenious.

After the taxi driver had left, Harry stood slightly confused as what to do now, double checking that his trunk was securely fastened, Harry withdrew his ticket from one of the pockets from his new black jacket. It clearly said in gold writing,

_LONDON to HOGWARTS_

_Platform 9 ¾ _

_September 1__st __at 11:00am_

Looking around, Harry wondered where on earth Platform 9 ¾ was? Harry walked towards the end of the station and he could see platforms 9 and 10 but there was no in between.

Not knowing what to do, and being alone Harry started to panic. His heart beating faster than normal, and his mouth went dry. Glancing around for a clock, Harry saw that it was 10:45, the train would be leaving soon! Harry was overpowered with fear and anxiety. Panic definitely started to set in and he was unaware of the people passing by him giving him concerned looks as he started to hyperventilate.

_What if I'm not on the train when it leaves? Will it wait for me? Will I still be able to go to Hogwarts if I'm late? Will they make me wait until the next year to attend? What if they refuse me my place? What if they decide that I'm not clever enough because I couldn't find the train? _

Because of his panicking, Harry didn't hear two anxious and concerned voices calling out to him.

"Harry, Harry..."

"Are you alright?"

Coming out of his slight panic attack, his breathing calmed and Harry looked up to the owners of the voices. Harry came face to face with Lily and Remus.

Looking between the two, Harry mentally cursed himself for panicking, again. Just like he had panicked when he couldn't find the Leaky Cauldron. Harry suddenly realised in embarrassment that his eyes were wet with unshed tears; he furiously wipes his eyes with the back of his hand and replied to the two who were still looking at him with concern.

"Erm, no, no I'm not alright," Harry replied. "I don't know where to go and the train leaves in less than 10 minutes!" Harry exclaimed, a little hysterically, drawing attention from some passers-by who looked at the trio curiously.

"Come on Harry, there's no need to panic," Lily said kindly, taking his small hand in hers, "It's ok, you can come and sit with us."

Lily caught Remus's eye and he smiled and nodded, placing a hand in the middle of the boys back, gently guiding him and his trolley a little further down the station to a wall that had platform 9 on one side and platform 10 on the other.

"Of course you can sit with us Harry, our things are already on the train and we were looking for James, Sirius and Peter as they're always late. But when we saw you looking a little lost, Lily suggested that we help you and ask you to sit with us." Remus reassured him.

Still holding Lily's hand, Harry hadn't even noticed that they were walking a little quicker towards a wall, Harry had little time to think before they walked straight at the wall, Harry gave a little squeak and closed his eyes as they walked straight though it.

Harry opened his eyes slowly and could only gape in utter amazement. A majestic, ornate, scarlet steam engine was waiting next a platform bustling with people. Lily and Remus shared an amused exchange at the look on Harrys face.

Harry looked up to Lily, grinning wildly as he pulled them along to get moving. Harry was secretly glad that Lily was still holding his hand, he really liked Lily. Harry thought that she was really nice and kind.

After leaving Harry's trunk with the porter at the end of the train, Remus and Lily escorted him to their compartment with Harry still not letting go of Lily's hand.

Upon entering the compartment, Harry saw that there was a small handbag that must belong to Lily was on the rack above the seats and a worn brown jacket was flung on the opposite rack and a small backpack that Harry suspected was Remus'.

Harry went to sit next to the window, Remus sat on the opposite side also next to the window and Lily sat next to Harry. The compartment could easily hold six people.

Harry felt content and happy, his previous panic attack forgotten, Harry couldn't quite believe it, this was it, he was finally on his way to Hogwarts.

In his excitement, Harry started bouncing in his seat as the Hogwarts Express set off; Harrys forest green eyes were glittering with happiness and Remus and Lily laughed at Harrys actions.

"When will we get there, how long will it take?" Harry asked, smiling widely all the while swinging his legs as his feet didn't quite reach the floor of the compartment.

Before Remus could answer him, the door to the compartment door opened with a bang which caused Harry to stop swinging his feet. Stood in the door was James, Sirius and another boy he didn't know. He was slightly plump and had a round face.

"What's _he _doing here?" Sirius said sharply, and James elbowed him in the side.

Lily's head swing round but not before Harry caught sight of her eyes, they were a fierily green blazing with anger.

"Harry is here because Remus and I invited him. And I enjoy his company, unlike your Black! Is there a problem?" She spat.

The tension between the occupants in the compartment could have been cut with a knife; they were back to arguing, again.

A soft whisper brought everyone out of their musings, or glaring in Lily and Sirius' case.

"It's alright; I'll go and find another compartment." Harry said, head downcast, feeling terrible about causing this group of friends to fall out because of him.

James looked at Sirius pointedly, a look of guilt on his face. Just a Harry was about to get up and before Lily could open her mouth to shout at Sirius. Sirius surprised everyone by bounding in to the compartment, shaking Harry's hand and ruffling his hair.

"Not to worry Harry. I apologise, I shouldn't have said that. Of course you can stay; you can be our little mascot. Ok Harrykins?" Sirius joked, a forced smile on his face that only James could tell.

Harry, surprised that he had apologised to him, could only nod while the others laughed at the nickname for Harry.

Sirius went to sit next to Lily, filling up that row of seats. So James went to go and sit next to Remus, and the round faced boy sat next to James.

Remus stood up and fiddled around with his backpack that was on the rack and he pulled out a thick looking blue book before he turned to face Harry.

"Well, you already know all of us, this is Peter Pettigrew. Peter, this is Harry Walker." Remus said before opening his book.

"Hello." Harry said shyly to the boy he didn't know, Peter just nodded politely and returned to his chocolate bar that he had pulled out from his pocket.

"James, Remus, Lil? Don't you three have a prefect meeting to go to?" Sirius asked, slightly confused.

"Nope, not his year Siri. We all got a letter from McGonagall saying that we were to have the meeting when we got to the school. I don't know why it was changed." Remus said with a shrug of his shoulders, not looking up from his book.

Two hours later, Harry was feeling more comfortable everyone, but he was rather put-off with the attitude that Sirius was giving him. Sirius seemed to avoid talking to him and when he did he replied with short sentences. He and James also exchange funny looks between one another, something was definitely going on.

Harry found out that the others in the compartment were entering their 6th year, and they'd just completed their O.W.L's which Harry deemed the equivalent to muggle G.C.S.E's.

He had also found out that they were all in the house Gryffindor, except for Sirius's girlfriend who was a Ravenclaw and she usually sat with them at the Gryffindor table; Sirius got a rather funny look on his face when he spoke of her.

Harry was now feeling full and sleepy due to stuffing his face on Chocolate Frogs, Liquorice Wands, Cauldron Cakes, Pumpkin Pasties and Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans.

Harry was resting his head against Lily's shoulder, well as far as his head could reach, feeling warm and even sleepier as his eyes had started to droop; Lily had began to run her fingers through his hair, effectively soothing and sending him off to sleep as he leaned further in to the warming touch.

Before he could fall asleep, the compartment door opened once again and a pretty girl with long blond hair and dark blue eyes popped her head around the door. She looked vaguely familiar to Harry.

"Hey Sirius, how are you? I've been looking for you everywhere; you're not usually this far down on the train." The girl asked.

"Hey Sara, I'm good thanks babe. How are you? Come and sit down." Sirius offered.

Harry now remembered where he'd seen her before; it was the girl who served him his Choco Chunky Ice Cream in Diagon Alley. So this Sara was Sirius's girlfriend.

Looking around drowsily, Harry realised that the compartment was full, three people on each side.

"It's alright Siri, I'll just see you at the feast. Save me a seat, okay?" Sara asked, and when Sirius nodded, she bent down and gave him a kiss.

But before she could exit the compartment, Lily had replied, "Nonsense Sara, there's plenty of room."

While saying this Lily has swiftly picked Harry up as he hadn't much weight to him and placed him on her lap and moved over and sat in Harry's seat near the window. Sara went and sat in Lily's previously occupied seat.

Harry, who was still sleepy, was surprised when he found himself lifted and placed on Lily's lap, but was too tired to protest or be embarrassed so he just lent back onto Lily, enjoying the comfort; missing James' jealous look.

Just as Harry was drifting off, he heard a few snippets of their conversation,

"_...is he Lily..."_

"_...Harry...lives at St. Mary's Orphanage..."_

"_...can we stop talking about the kid now..."_

Before he fell into a short sleep.

Harry drowsily awoke an hour and a half later to a soft hand running through his hair, and the sound of talking coming from the others in the compartment.

The door opened for a third time, Harry looked up and saw two boys already dressed in their Hogwarts robes, a green and silver tie could be seen and they sneering in distain at them all.

One of the boys was quite tall; he had long flawless blond hair, pale skin, cold grey eyes and he carried a black cane with a silver snakes head on the top.

The other boy, Harry easily recognised. It was the Snape boy that he had seen selling those weird leaf things to the Apothecary in Diagon Alley.

The compartment went completely silent; the two boys looked over at them all; their eyes finally landing on Harry who was still sat in Lily's lap. The Snape boy nodded subtlety in their direction and the blonde boy seemed to nod in acceptance with his eyes. No one else caught this exchange as they were openly glaring at the two boys, especially James and Sirius. Lily however did and she tightened her grip on Harry.

"And here we enter the Lions den. Are you not going to invite us in? Where are your hosting manners, It's polite to greet your betters." The blonde haired boy drawled, elegantly resting the cane on his chin.

"Get stuffed Malfoy! What do you want?" James barked, inconspicuously drawing his wand, Sirius copying his movement. Harry tensed.

"Now, now Potter, don't burst a brain cell." Snape mocked, a smirk tugging his lips.

"Shut up Snivellus, James wasn't talking to you, you greasy haired git." Sirius snarled and Snape shook in anger, his hand reached inside his robe for his wand but Malfoy stopped him with a firm grip on his arm.

"There's no need for insults. We're all civilised people here, we'll not all of us." The boy called Malfoy sneered, pointedly looking at Lily and James's faced turned red and he opened his mouth to say something but Malfoy cut him off.

"Continuing on, I do not wish to spend anymore time here than necessary. I don't want anything to do with you or your little band of followers Potter; I want a word with the boy, in private if you don't mind." Malfoy said with an icily smile which made Harry shiver, when he pointed his cane at Harry seemingly for effect, he immediately stiffened in Lily's lap. Harry did not like the look on Malfoys face.

Sirius and James looked between Malfoy and Harry with suspicion and narrowed eyes, the others just looked on in confusion.

"Whatever you want to say, you can say it here Lucius, in front of all of us." Lily boldly said, Remus nodding in agreement.

"Did I give you permission, _mudblood_, to use my given name? No, I don't believe I did. Well then, come on boy-." As soon as Malfoy had sneered the word mudblood, all occupants of the compartment stood up and took out their wands, apart from Lily and Sara and starting shouting insults of their own.

Harry felt strangely out of place, he wasn't use to this type of confrontation; especially with older boys. Harry thought he was brave when dealing with the bullies from the orphanage, but this was a completely different world to him. There were all of these different words that Harry didn't know that caused fights to break out, and it was most likely that these older students knew higher advanced magic than him so he was quite happy to keep out of it. Even though Harry wasn't the normally the one to back down or refuse to confront someone, Harry felt it was safer to stay sat down; he really didn't want to talk to Malfoy especially when he looked at him with that strange look.

A loud bang from Remus' wand stopped everyone immediately. As it turns out, James and Sirius were tangled in each other in their haste to get up due to the fact that they had all forgotten how cramped the compartment was and the fact that there wasn't much leg room and this resulted in them tripping over Sara and had gotten tangled up but not before James had landed a punch on Malfoy; apparently all wands were forgotten at this point, and he now sported a split lip. Peter just looked confused and sat down.

"Enough of this, we don't want to be getting into trouble before we even get to Hogwarts do we? Now, if you two don't mind, I think it best if you just leave." Remus firmly said to Snape and Malfoy.

"Stop trying to be the reasonable one wolf, all we want is to talk to the brat." Snape said, touching his bruised cheek, it seems that Sirius had also manage to land a punch.

"It's alright Severus," Lucius said silkily, wiping a hand against his bleeding lip, "We'll have plenty of time to talk to him. They can't protect their little pet forever. And just to think, all we wanted was a little chat. Just like a Gryffindork to blow things way out of proportion." And with a final sneer to them all, he turned around to exit the compartment but Sirius wanted to get the last word.

"That's right, just run away, just like your cowardly father did against the fight of Voldemort," everyone apart from Harry in the compartment flinched and Lucius Malfoy turned around, his pale face was blotched pink slightly with fury, "Yes, that's right, we all know that once Voldemort's side was loosing, your father _suddenly _saw the error of his ways and ran in the opposite direction _claiming _to be under the imperious curse. Well, I for one don't believe it; coward. Oh, just a last question for you dear Lucius, have you been recruited to join 'La Guardia' yet?" Sirius finished with a cocky smirk.

The reactions were instant, Lucius's pale face drained instantly of any colour that it had left, and Severus went practically chalk white; if it was even possible with his already pale, sallow complexion. Lily and Sara gasped audibly, Remus looked as Sirius as if he was completely mad for mentioning it, Peter whimpered and sunk down in his seat and James looked at Sirius in complete shock.

Lucius blinked and opened his mouth a couple of times before swallowing heavily, he then shakily but firmly replied to Sirius.

"I will never, _never _agree to join him. No matter what you may think." And with that said, he stumbled slightly out of the compartment, Severus right behind him.

The compartment was left in silence until Harry broke it with a question that he had wanted to voice as so as Sirius had said it.

"What's 'The Guard'?" Harry asked, and everybody's eyes focussed on him.

"How do you know what it means?" Sirius asked sharply. And before Lily could reprimand him for his tone Harry answered.

"I learnt Spanish," Harry said simply, "La Guardia means quite simply in Spanish 'The Guard'. What is it and why did it freak everybody out?" Harry asked.

"Well," Sirius began uncertainly, not really wanting to talk about it, "Le Guardia is a name given to those who follow Gellert Grindelwald. He's been forcing his influence on many countries abroad and overseas. Unofficially, the majority of the magical population in Russia, Brazil, Argentina, Egypt, Spain and other smaller countries under high pressure have joined Le Guardia, but some magical communities have openly defied joining such as Australia, China, Canada, and Italy. But rumour has it that Le Guardia is spreading its teaching and beliefs further a field to more influential political countries like the UK and USA. Gellert Grindelwald is taking control of the entire world. It all started to happen after the defeat of the previous Dark Lord Voldemort." Again, everyone shivered and James continued with the explanation, the mood in the compartment darkening; a mirror image of the view outside.

"Old Voldie, or You-Know-Who to those who feared to say his name was the previous Dark Lord who had taken hold of Britain about 5 years ago. He was in his early twenties when he rose to power and we were just started Hogwarts when he began recruiting followers called Death Eaters. He was defeated by Albus Dumbledore, our current Headmaster three years into Voldies reign but there was a rumour that he was searching for something before his downfall; but ironically no one seems to know anything about it. It seems that Grindelwald was quietly gaining power abroad, without gaining too much suspicion due to the violent raids that were plastered all over the Daily Prophet publishing Voldies actions. You could say that Voldie was more bold and outgoing, as to let people know who's boss. Grindelwald is...what's the muggle saying...the silent but deadly Dark Lord. There is very little known about him and even fewer people have actually met him, his orders get run through a special group of followers, which also run the members of La Guardia." James finished, nodding to Sirius to continue. Their audience along with Harry were completely enraptured.

"You may not know this Harry, but Voldemort gained followers by appealing to the old pureblood and half-blood families; mainly towards the adults who were head of the families that detested muggleborns who entered the magical world and just ordinary muggles themselves. Therefore, he was gaining a small army due to the fact that many of them had children; such as the Malfoys. So he believed that all of the children born to parents with allegiances to the Dark Lord would be brought up with his teachings." Here Sirius took a slight pause before continuing.

"But, what we can understand from what others have said, according to those who have refused aligning with Grindelwald that is, is that the members of La Guardia are targeting children."

"So that's why Malfoy went really pale and totally freaked out?" Harry interrupted.

"Most probably." Sirius shrugged, seemly not bothered.

"B-but, I don't understand. Why are they targeting children?" Harry asked, genuinely curious.

And to Harry's surprise, it was Remus who cleared his throat, intent on continuing the story and answering Harry's question. Turing his head to Remus direction, he shuffles forward slightly in Lily's lap, not leaning his back against her anymore but she still had her arms wrapped securely around his waist and Harry inwardly smiled, liking the feel of comfort and protection from someone he had only met a couple of times.

"The possible rumours that have been circulating are that Grindelwald is targeting children because they are most impressionable and easy to take on different beliefs. Children are also more open to different ideas and are more likely to join as a protest of rebellion against their parents. Secondly, there is a higher number of children than adults, so if a child or children have joined La Guardia, then their parents are more than likely to join due to the pressure to make sure that their children are safe. Due to this, Grindelwald has whole families of followers at his disposal, which could include grandparents and other family members for protection. And the reason as to why Lucius was so 'freaked out' as you put it, was because the methods that they use for older children are rather harsh to put it mildly."

"I heard that he's targeting magical families that are either muggleborn or half-blood due to the fact that they outnumber the pureblood generations greatly." Peter interjected, drawing surprised looks from everyone.

"But, how are they doing it?" Harry asked, upon seeing Harry's expectant look, Remus reluctantly continued,

"Spies." Remus said simply, "They inform the most senior members of La Guardia and they act accordingly to achieve what they want."

"How do you know all this?" Harry said sceptically, suspicion creeping into his tone.

Harry felt Lily shift uncomfortably beneath him; the other boys in the compartment shared a long look, seemingly talking with their eyes. Harry turned his head to the right slightly and he saw over the head of Sara that Sirius was shaking his head and his eyes were a little wide.

"You mustn't tell anyone this Harry, we're telling you in complete confidence, and I feel as if I can trust you. Some of our parents are in an organisation that fights for the light so to speak. It was formed several years ago that also helped in the downfall of You-Know-Who. That's how we know so much." Remus said quietly, looking Harry directly in the eye.

Harry sat in silence for a few minutes, the others doing the same, Harry's mind was buzzing with all the information that he'd just learnt when one crucial question suddenly came to him.

"But why is Grindelwald doing this? What does he want to achieve?" Harry asked and it was James who answered.

"Grindelwald doesn't only want to take control of the entire world like Voldie, he's doing it in a planned and organised way, but don't get me wrong, some of the methods they use are just brutal. La Guardia is nothing to trifle with, their ten times more worse than the death eaters. We don't know exactly what he wants to achieve, but me and Sirius overheard one of the meetings, and they were saying that Grindelwald wants to keep the Wizarding world a secret, just like Voldie but he doesn't want to kill all of the muggles, which is slightly odd. We also heard that Grindelwald had instructed some foreign wizards to create some sort of device that detects the magic in muggles but we got discovered before we could hear anymore." James said, while blushing slightly, his ears turning slightly red; as did Sirius.

"What's this? Two members of the legendary marauders got caught?" Remus said with amusement, effectively lightening the mood, "Well Peter, it looks like we'll be looking for new members." Remus said, looking over James' head.

Everybody laughed, but Harry just smiled, he had no idea what marauders were.

Just as the mood was beginning to lighten up, a mans voice echoed throughout the train;

"_Fifteen minutes before we reach Hogwarts, I repeat fifteen minutes..." _

As the voice trailed off, Lily released her grip around Harry's waist to look at her watch, she gasped loudly and stood up swiftly depositing Harry on his feet; steadying him with a hand on his shoulder as he wobbled unsteadily and she exclaimed loudly to the others.

"Oh my gosh, look at the time! I can't believe that we've been chatting for this long and never noticed the time. It's so late; we've go to get our robes on. Since there are more boys than girls, me and Sara will change in the bathroom." Lily informed them all.

"No problem Lily-flower, you and Sara can change here. We won't look, much." Sirius said, waggling his eyebrows for effect, causing James to burst into laughter which he turned into well disguised coughs when Lily glared at him; but her cheeks were slightly pink. Peter was bright red in the face.

"Remus, where are our robes?" Harry asked, finding himself face to face with Remus, seeing as Lily was giving out instructions to everyone, Sirius mocking everything she said earning a whack in the head from both Lily and Sara. "Aren't they in our trunk? Do we have to go and get them?" Remus only laughed.

"Nope, our Uniforms are magically sent to out seats. The seats lift up and out pop our things, once we're changed we just put our clothes back under the seats and they get magically transported back into our trunks. Watch Lily, the space under your seat should have been expanded due to the both of you sat on the seat."

Harry turned around as best as he could and saw Lily lift the seat that they had both been sat on and she pulled out a lot of black material which must have been her robe, Harry saw a glimpse of red and gold before she took out her black shoes and placed them on top of her pile; closing the seat and turning towards Harry.

"Alright Harry, your things are under mine. Sara, come on! We've only got ten minutes before we get there, oh we should have gotten changed ages ago." Lily stressed while grabbing a hold of said girls hand, which nearly resulted her in dropping her things.

Peter shut the compartment door after them and closed the blinds, giving them all privacy to change.

Harry opened his seat and indeed, there was his uniform all folded up neatly. Harry wasn't particularly fond of this of method; so many things could go wrong. What if you got the wrong clothes? Who went into his trunk and got out his uniform? Wasn't there a rule about rooting through other peoples belongings? Anyway, his trunk had best not have been left in a mess Harry concluded while buttoning up his white shirt.

Harry changed in silence, slightly self conscious of his body. All of these boys were fully grown with muscles, well apart from Peter, and here was Harry, skinny and pale with a bruise on his stomach from where Michael had managed to punch him before he left; effectively winding him, Harry hoped that no one saw it. And so in his embarrassment, Harry had taken to avoid looking at anyone while he changed.

While everyone else was changed, and the girls not back yet, Harry found himself struggling to do his tie properly. His fingers kept on fumbling with the silky material and he was getting fed up with just holding and staring at the material; visualizing how he had seen the woman in the shop do it for him. He was facing the window, trying to see his reflection without mush success, it was really hard and the tie was just too long.

Remus, who could see that Harry was getting frustrated, tugged him gently by side of his crisp white shirt and lifted him back on to his seat, so he was sat facing Remus.

"Here, it's better if you do it this way. I struggled just the same as you when I was your age. It just takes a little practice. Just pull it down, a little further, here and loop it over..." Remus instructed gently, while kneeling down in front of him, getting Harry to copy his movements after he had done it for him.

"Thankyou." Harry replied softly, while putting on his jumper and placing his robe on before smoothing down his hair that Harry could feel was out of place. At that moment the door to the compartment opened to reveal a fully dressed Lily and Sara in their uniform. Sara, unlike the others, had a blue and bronze tie.

"Awwww," Lily squealed making her way towards him, "Doesn't he just look adorable?"

Sara nodded in agreement and actually cooed at him!

Luckily for Harry, the train had come to a complete stop indicating that they were here and Lily; all silly noises over with, rushed passed Harry and lifted the seat and unceremoniously dumped her clothes and slammed the seat shut.

"Come on everyone; let's get off the train quickly before we get caught in the thick of students rushing to get off." Lily shouted, grabbing James hand in the process much to his utter delight.

Running up to keep everyone as he jumped off the train, he shouted "Wait! What about our stuff?" All the while looking everywhere, despite the hindrance of the darkness Harry could see that there were a lot of students. More than just a lot, it was more like hundreds.

"Don't worry Harry, it'll all gets sent up separately." Remus answered him as he slowed down so Harry could easily hear him amongst the bustle and noise of the other students.

Just as Harry was about to follow the other to go right, a deep loud male voice could be heard up and down the platform,

"_First years, come along now first years don't be shy! First years over here..."_

"Go on Harry, we'll see you later." Lily said, while bending down to give him a small hug before shoving him gently in the right direction.

Harry gave everyone a small wave and a muttered 'bye' before walking over to where the male voice had come from, the platform was nearly empty by now.

Harry found himself gazing up at the biggest man he had ever seen. He had long shaggy brown hair and small beetle looking eyes that gazed at Harry with kindness. He could just about make out a smile on the giant man's face through his bushy beard.

"Hello there, I'm Rubeus Hagrid or just Hagrid if you like. Are you a first year then?" Hagrid asked, looking at the small boy.

"Yes, I'm Harry. Nice to meet you Hagrid." Harry replied, Harry thought that Hagrid suited him much better than Rubeus.

"Nice to meet you too Harry, glad to see you've got manners. Well then Harry, I'm afraid that you'll have to share a boat with me as all of the other ones are full. It's just a short trip so don't worry. We seem to have an odd number of students this year." Hagrid said while scratching his head.

"Okay, that's fine." Harry piped up, breaking Hagrid from his thoughts.

Although it would have been nice to sit with the other kids his age and get to know them and make some friends. Well, he had another seven years at Hogwarts to make friends, he'd already sat apart from the other first years on the train, what was a short boat trip going to matter. He'd introduce himself to his classmates later.

Hagrid and Harry shared a boat that was towards the back of the group due to the fact that Harry was the last student that Hagrid was waiting for. Harry was sat backwards in the boat, facing Hagrid so he could easily talk to him instead of looking over his shoulder.

As it turns out, Harry really enjoyed crossing the Black Lake with Hagrid. They chatted about all different types of things, and Harry had learnt that Hagrid liked strange and dangerous animals. Intrigued Harry asked about what animals he had previously had; upon seeing Harry's genuine excitement and curiosity Hagrid got stuck right in with telling Harry of Aragog. Aragog turned out to be a blind Acromantula, in other words, he was an enormous spider that was capable of human speech. Hagrid had offered to introduce him, but Harry had hurriedly declined.

Instead Harry asked him if he looked after any kinder and less dangerous creatures, and Hagrid had enthusiastically replied with a very long list; some at which Harry suspected were actually dangerous.

A few minutes later, Harry was elated and eager to meet some of his favourite mythical creatures that Hagrid said he'd take him to meet; a Unicorn and a Fairy, actually Fairies! He was literally bouncing in the boat; not that there was any danger in tipping the boat over.

"Hang on a minute Harry," Hagrid said before he faced forward, easily looking over Harrys head, "You lot listen up, you'll get your first sight of Hogwarts in just a sec."Hagrid called out to the others in front.

He looked down to Harry and smiled at him, "You'd best turn around Harry, you're in for a real sight. I wouldn't want you to miss it." Hagrid told him.

Harry hurriedly complied and carefully turned around, now sat facing the correct way, the boat turned round a bend.

There was a chorus of 'Oooooh!' Harry included and he could hear Hagrid's deep chuckle behind him at everyone's reaction.

Perched atop of a high mountain, surrounded by a blanket dark midnight blue sky dotted with stars, sat a vast castle with hundreds of windows and many turrets and towers.

Harry sat mouth a gape, a look of amazement on his face and Harry could only stare at the great castle ahead.

It was Hogwarts. He was finally here.

* * *

- - - - - END OF CHAPTER 9 - - - - -

**Note: **Thankyou all for reading and please leave me a review. The next chapter should be up by the end of the week.

**Second Note: **I've received a lot of feedback on whether to make my story a slash or not and I've decided not to have any pairing at all. This is due to the fact that when I planned it out originally and wrote it out in note form I had no plans to include a pairing and so I will stick with my original idea as I don't think it will fit with what I've got planned for Harry.


	10. The Sorting

**Authors Note: **Don't worry, I'm still here! I know that it's been ages since I last updated but I'm very sorry for not Updating for so long, I recently started University and I've been really busy. Anyway, the updates should be every two weeks or every week if I've got some free time :)

**Second Note: **I thank everyone for reading my story and a very special thanks to those who review; I love all of them! I really like hearing what you all think and like/don't and I'll happily answer any questions you all have. I've got like 100 story alerts and favourite story alerts so thank you!

Anyway, enough of my ramblings, because you've all waited so long I've made this my longest chapter yet with 10,877 words and over 25 pages! As usual, answered questions at the bottom of the page.

**Warnings: **Minor reference to spanking but it's not that serious or a big focus but I thought that I'd just mention it just to be safe.

Please enjoy :)

Harry Potter in a Different World- Chapter 10 The Sorting

Hogwarts looked even more magnificent up close and Harry had to tilt his head right back to keep on looking at the castle as the boats floated them all under a dark tunnel which seemed to be taking them right underneath the school. They then came to, what Harry could only guess, was an underground dock and the walls were lit with flaming torches and Harry could now clearly see the other students; Harry's soon to be classmates, and hopefully his friends.

They then clambered out of the boats and on to the rocks and pebbles that served as their path. Harry had to catch himself from falling twice as his feet kept on slipping on the wet, uneven surface.

Harry saw that several of his classmates weren't so lucky to stay upright and had gotten the back of their robes slightly wet from where they had landed on the ground. Apparently, the designer of the Hogwarts shoes needed to be introduced to the invention of better grip for the soles of their shoes.

Looking back around, Harry saw that Hagrid was double checking the boats. There were about 10 boats in total and counting quickly before they were moved on, Harry totalled 12 boats in all.

Following the others, Harry did another quick mental calculation, recalling the information that Hagrid had told him that there was 4 to a boat; Harry came to a total of around 48 students, not including him.

Somehow, Harry expected there to be more students than this but Harry remembered Remus telling him on the train that there were usually around 20 first years per house, 10 boys and 10 girls for each house giving a total of 80 students per year, but in recent years the amount had been declining. For the size of the school, Harry thought that this was very unstable. Then Lily had gone on to explain that this was because of the threat of the first war everyone was reluctant to have children which caused the low birth-rate. Remus then argued against this and said that parents were now choosing to educate their own children at home or send them to another school, but Lily was adamant that it was the low-birth rate and so proceeded to describe them the recent patterns and factors that were associated with it.

Harry tuned them out at this point, it had started to sound like a Geography lesson. Despite liking to learn; Geography was an iffy subject for him. Harry enjoyed learning about the Physical Geography such as hurricanes, volcanoes and how we got different types of weather. Harry particularly enjoyed learning that there were all different types of clouds from Altostratus to Cumulus clouds. And there was also the added bonus that it confused the hell out of the others; especially Miss Cole when he spoke of the long Geographical terms. Whereas Human Geography-Harry wasn't to keen on as it tended to focus on negative topics such as the mass famines, starvation and disease; all which ultimately led to a high death count. This tended to put Harry in a depressing and sombre mood.

Harry was brought out of his musing Hagrid telling; well it was more like bellowing, them all to follow him.

They then all clambered onto a passageway, following Hagrid, and they made their way through it until they came to a smooth stone grey passageway that was much easier to walk on.

They walked up a flight of stone steps; and Harry found himself behind a long blonde haired girl whose hair was in a low ponytail.

They then were all crowded round a huge oak door. There were several carved squares in the doors and Harry could see that round the outside of the door it was decorated in swirls. Inside of the carved squares, there were a couple of engraved animals and trees, as far as Harry could see at this distance. Harry would of liked to have a closer look, suddenly, Harry was very grateful that he had had the laser eye surgery all those years ago-Merlin only knows what his eyesight might be like now.

That was another thing, Merlin, since finding out that he was a wizard Harry had taken to saying 'oh Merlin' instead of 'oh God'. It just seemed appropriate; and he kind of liked saying it.

The noise of Hagrid clearing his throat brought Harry out of his thoughts.

"Everyone here?" Hagrid bellowed, and when a few muttered 'Yes' and a lot of shaky nods, Hagrid raised a huge, gigantic fist and knocked three times on the castle door.

No sooner had Hagrid knocked, the door had opened almost at once and Harry instantly recognised the woman behind them-it was Professor Minerva McGonagall.

This time, instead of the suit she had been wearing when she came to the orphanage, she was dressed in deep emerald green robes and Harry suddenly thought that when she was in 'Professor Mode' that she was not someone to cross due to her very stern face.

"The first years here for you Professor McGonagall." Hargis said, sweeping his giant arms in their direction causing those close to him to duck said swinging limbs, which were more like thick swinging branches.

"Thankyou Hagrid," Professor McGonagall said, eyeing the children who had ducked with concern, "I will take them from here. Children, please follow me." And with that she swiftly turned around and briskly walked off.

As they all walked around Hagrid who was beaming at them all, when he saw Harry he clapped him on the back; nearly sending him catapulting into the girl in front of him.

They were led into the entrance hall before Professor McGonagall ushered them into a large empty chamber off from the hall; but not before Harry heard the sudden noise of hundreds of students talking-the rest of the school must already be sat down through the golden double doors.

They all huddled into the room, it was large enough to fit another 30 or so more students in; but they all stood closer together than they normally would and Harry found himself stood with two other boys and the same blonde haired girl from before.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," Professor McGonagall began, "The start of term banquet will begin shortly so I will not keep you for long. Before you can sit down in the Great Hall with the rest of the students, you must first be sorted into your houses. While you are here at Hogwarts, your houses will be like you family. Triumphs will earn you house points, however, any rule breaking and you will loose points. The house at the end of the year will be awarded the house cup. The four houses are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin."

Harry noted that she had said Gryffindor with pride and a little smile.

Harry didn't honestly know which house he would end up in, when reading _Hogwarts: A History_, Harry realised that he could fit in any house.

Gryffindor is well known for its bravery, daring and nerve. Harry had definitely been brave and daring when confronting Michael and the other bullies at the orphanage; but how would he fair in the Wizarding world?

Hufflepuff is known for its loyalty, honesty and tolerance. Well, Harry had been very tolerant with the bullies before he stood up for himself. But he wasn't very loyal, as he'd hardly had any friends to be loyal to, but he was loyal in what he believed-why should he act different to appease someone else?

Ravenclaw values intelligence, wit, creativity and wisdom. Harry was extremely intelligent, could remember things easily, and he was very book-ish. His creativity came from his love for drawing and ideas of combining spells. But would this be enough to fit in Ravenclaw?

Slytherin values cleverness, cunning, ambition and resourcefulness. Again, Harry was extremely clever, Harry thought himself cunning for being able to sneak out of the orphanage. He also had ambition to be something; not just another orphan. As for resourcefulness, Harry had not spent his much needed galleons on a pet that he didn't really need; therefore he had more money to spend on things that he might need in the future.

So ultimately, Harry thought that he could fit into any house.

Due to Harry's rambling thoughts about houses, he missed the rest of what Professor McGonagall was telling them.

"...and I will return for you when we are ready for you. Please wait quietly and smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you're waiting." She then left the chamber.

Almost at once, when the door was firmly shut; nervous chatter broke out from the other students.

Harry turned to the dark skinned boy to his left, seeing the he wasn't engaged in any conversation.

"How exactly do they sort us into our houses? Is it some sort of test?" Harry asked the boy next to him, he was a little taller than Harry and had dark chocolate brown eyes.

Harry saw the dark skinned boy begin to answer, _he really should have asked for his name first _Harry thought mentally kicking himself. But before he could reply to Harry, the blonde haired girl that Harry had walked behind turned around to face him.

She had a look of superiority on her face that Harry swore he had seen before, and she had ice blue eyes but they looked slightly cold. Overall, she wasn't very friendly looking.

"No, there is no such test. My father says that it's done in front of the whole school. Of course, my father and cousin, the latter who currently attends Hogwarts, were quite tight lipped on how they actually sort you into your house. But he insured me that is doesn't hurt; well I don't really believe my cousin. I'm Natalia by the way. Natalia Lucan." She said, offering her hand out to shake. She had a slight expectant look on her face.

"I'm Harry," He replied, shaking her hand, "Harry Walker."

Suddenly, her hand was ripped out of his own as if she had burnt it. Harry looked up and saw a look of pure disgust on her face and she was wiping her hand on her robes. Her very expensive looking robes; she must be one of those old fashioned purebloods. Typical, the first person that talked to him was now looking at him like he was a piece of filth.

"Walker...that's not a pureblood name, nor is it halfblood. I would have been made aware of a pureblood or halfblood married a muggle. I can't believe that I allowed _you _to shake _my _hand." Natalia said with a sneer, Harry had definitely seen it somewhere before and her whole tone was full of distain.

"Actually, I don't know for certain that I'm a muggle born, I could be a halfblood or even a pureblood," Harry informed her, he didn't really want to continue seeing as others were listening in but he wanted to get things straight, "I was left at an orphanage, so technically, I don't know my true heritage. My mother could have been a pureblood and made to give me up at birth. Or even a halfblood family that couldn't afford to look after me. So don't you go and look down on me when you don't even know me." Harry told her, a little bit of forcefulness was in his tone. Looking around, Harry cringed when he saw that the majority of those in the room were listening; some with pity etched on their faces and some that looked at Harry with disgust, just like Natalia.

Natalia looked so shocked that she had been spoken to like that, and couldn't think of a reply so she just sneered again and stalked of to a blonde haired boy. He had the same shade of blonde hair as Natalia and she looked as if she was whispering to him.

Harrys thought was proven correct as the blonde haired boy suddenly looked up and glared at him. With the very same ice blue eyes, oh great; they're twins.

Harry turned back to the dark skinned boy on his left and hoped that he didn't think along the same lines as Natalia Lucan. But before Harry could speak, the boy held out his hand and spoke first.

"Hey, I'm ___Niccolò. Niccolò Zabini." His voice was surprisingly deep; it also had a slightly exotic tone to it, possibly Italian. _

_"__Hi, Harry Walker. Erm, as you probably already know." Harry said with a grin, as his cheeks coloured slightly in embarrassment while shaking the other boy hand. _

"Yes," Niccolò said with a smile, "And I do know how we get sorted, but I'm not going to tell you." He finished off with a cocky smirk; it was one of those where you know something someone else doesn't know.

"So...we don't have to face a huge green monster or something similar do we?" Harry asked, half joking and half serious when remembering that strange dream he had last night.

Niccolò gaped openly for a moment before he started laughing, "That's a good one Walker. No, we don't have to face anything like that, thank Merlin. Just don't worry about it. You'll be fine." Niccolò reassured him, still looking too amused for Harry's liking, but it was all in good humour.

"So..." Harry started nervously, "Are you like Natalia? You know, with the way you think and act towards certain people? All pureblood-ish."

"No, no I'm not. Although I am a pureblood myself, I'm reluctant to take part in prejudices as you limit yourself to only certain types of people. My father isn't happy about it but I convinced him that it's in my best interests to socialise with others and for now he's fine with it; besides, I'm his favourite. My brother, Carlos, however is reluctant to share my views; he's in his sixth year. Oh and one more thing, avoid calling anothers by their first name unless you are friends with them or you have their permission as it's not proper in Wizarding customs, especially if it's your first meeting with them and after that, well, it's not so bad. Just use their last name as it's more respectful." Niccolò told him quite seriously.

"Oh...may I have your permission to call you by your first name?" Harry asked uncertainly, all the while wishing that he'd read the section in _Wizarding Law and Behaviour by Magnus John Aurelius _about 'proper etiquette'.

Niccolò eyed him without a hint of emotion on his face and Harry was worried that he might have pushed him too far and had been too upfront. Now, he'd probably gone and ruined whatever friendship he might have started.

"No, you may not have my permission," and Harry's face fell with disappointment. But Niccolò then surprised him by smiling widely showing his very white and straight teeth.

"As my friend, you already have that honour." Smiling even more at the gob smacked expression on Harry's face.

"R-really," Harry stammered, "I'm your friend?" He consciously asked.

"Of course, I don't say things that I do not mean. May I call you by your first name?" Niccolò teasingly asked, imitating Harry's earlier question.

"Oh yes, definitely." Harry stated, nearly shouting in excitement. He'd made his first new friend.

Before the two new found friends could talk some more, the doors opened once more which silenced everyone immediately. Professor McGonagall had returned; they were ready for them.

"Come now, we're all ready for you now. Form an orderly line, follow me" she told them.

Harry felt slightly odd; his legs seemed to have stopped working. Niccolò gave him a gentle shove in the back to get him moving. Swallowing thickly, Harry felt is legs begin to move as he walked out of the chamber back into the entrance hall and through the pair of golden double doors into the Great Hall.

Harry hardly noticed that Niccolò was still pushing forwards with a steady hand on his back; he was completely enraptured with the sight that greeted him.

It was simply magnificent, amazing, magical, grand, stunning, and beautiful. The words just kept on coming and Harry had never seen anything like it before and he could have never had imagined it.

The Great Hall was lit by thousands of candles which were floating in mid air above four long oak tables where all of the rest of the students were sitting, and they were staring at them as they all walked by.

They came to a halt when they reached the front of the hall and they all gathered round in front of a four legged stool, and on top of the stool sat a old, worn looking pointy wizard hat.

A few meters away from the stool, at the top of the hall was another long table where all of the other teachers sat. Avoiding the gaze of the teachers, Harry looked upwards and saw a dark blue night sky dotted with stars.

Harry looked behind him and his vision suddenly went fuzzy and slightly blurry, he couldn't hear anything; squinting his eyes, trying to see better, Harry could vaguely see a brown bushy haired girl also looking up towards the ceiling. Harry heard her whisper, "It's bewitched to look like the nights sky outside, I've read about it in _Hogwarts: A History_." She had a bossy, factual sort of voice. Harry saw her lower her head and he was startled to see that she had no face, it was blurry.

Shaking his head and closing his eyes, Harry was assaulted with the sudden murmur of the students talking to each other. Slowly opening his eyes, Harry looked back around but could see any girls with bushy brown hair. None of the girls had bushy hair.

_What the bloody hell was that all about? Why did he have one of these weird dream things stood up? He wasn't even asleep! What if..._

Harry was brought out of his musings by Niccolò who had tugged at his robe, he had a slightly concerned look on his face, like he had been silently trying to get Harry's attention for a while, but he inclined his head towards the front of the Great Hall where Professor McGonagall stood, now with a neatly rolled scroll fastened with a red ribbon in her hands.

The teachers, as well as the students were all staring at the hat in complete silence, Harry was about to ask Niccolò what was going on but he abruptly closed his mouth when the hat twitched. The bottom of the hat opened like a mouth and then to Harrys; and all of the other first years surprise-the hat began to sing;

_A thousand years or more ago  
When I was newly sewn,  
There lived four wizards of renown,  
Whose names are still well known:_

_United by a common goal,  
They had the selfsame yearning  
To make the world's best magic school  
And pass along their learning._

_There's nothing hidden in your head  
The Sorting Hat can't see,  
So try me on and I will tell you  
Where you ought to be._

_Now each of these four founders  
Formed their own house, for each  
Did value different virtues  
In the ones they had to teach._

_You might belong in Gryffindor,  
Where dwell the brave at heart,  
Their daring, nerve, and chivalry  
Set Gryffindors apart;_

You might belong in Hufflepuff,  
Where they are just and loyal,  
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true  
And unafraid of toil;

Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,  
if you've a ready mind,  
Where those of wit and learning,  
Will always find their kind;

Or perhaps in Slytherin  
You'll make your real friends,  
Those cunning folks use any means  
To achieve their ends.

_Oh, know the perils, read the signs,  
the warning history shows,  
for our Hogwarts is in danger  
from external, deadly foes_

And we must unite inside her  
or we'll crumble from within  
I have told you, I have warned you...  
let the Sorting now begin.

_Now slip me snug about your ears,  
I've never yet been wrong,  
I'll have a look inside your mind  
And tell where you belong!_

The entire hall burst into applause as the singing hat, as Harry had decided to call it, finished its song.

"No way!" Harry whispered to Niccolò who was hiding a smile, "All we have to do is try on a hat?"

"Of course Harry, they wouldn't make us do anything dangerous like fight a green monster for example." Niccolò teased, arching an eyebrow when Harry sputtered excuses in embarrassment which caused a few of the nearby students look upon the two in curiosity.

Professor McGonagall had stepped forward and she was now in line with the stool, and once again there was complete silence.

"Now, when I call your name, you will put the Sorting Hat upon your head and sit on the stool to be sorted. Once sorted, proceed to your allocated house table and sit down." She informed them all; she then opened the scroll and read what was written.

"Aaliyah, Ava" A girl of Asian appearance, who was at the front of the group walked towards the stool and placed the hat on her head before she sat down. There was silence for a couple of seconds before-

"RAVENCLAW!" the hat shouted.

The table second from the left clapped and cheered widely as Ava Aaliyah joined her new house.

"Aleia, Saskia" A girl with dark brown hair was next "SLYTHERIN!"

The table on the far left, near one of the walls clapped as one and a few shook hands with the very first Slytherin.

"Arrington, Eric" A tall boy with dirty blonde hair walked up, "RAVENCLAW!"

Because Harry was watching everyone's reactions to each individual student, Harry ended up missing half of his classmate's sortings. Doing a quick count, Harry could watch about 26 of his fellow student's sortings, missing out on the remaining half. This was because he wanted to watch and see how the other students and teachers reacted to certain names.

"Bailey, Melanie" "GRYFFINDOR!"

"Bones, Cody" "HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Cane, Atticius" "SLYTHERIN!"

"Colton, Mathew" "GRYFFINDOR!" Professor McGonagall would smile slightly when a new student joined this house. _She must be head of the house or something_ Harry thought.

"De Vere, Sophia" "SLYTHERIN!"

"Jonas, Felix" "RAVENCLAW!"

"Kyler, Austin" "GRYFFINDOR!" Again, Harry noticed that it was the Gryffindor students that made the most noise when applauding a new member of their house. Harry subtly looked around to the table to where Austin was heading for and could just about see Lily with her flaming red hair sat halfway down the table clapping politely, once the clapping stopped Harry saw two dark haired boys; Sirius and James lay their heads on the table only to shoot back up again to clap for a new Gryffindor.

"Le Roux, Laura" "GRYFFINDOR!"

"Lesner, Daniel" "SLYTHERIN!"

"Lucan, Alexander" A blond haired boy stepped forward, quite arrogantly so. Ah, he must be the brother of the girl who looked so disgusted when he gave his name. They were definitely twins, along with the same surname, Harry saw that they had the similar looking features although Alexander had higher cheekbones and had darker eyebrows than his sister.

The hat barely touched his head when it shouted, "SLYTHERIN!" And the table on the far left clapped louder than before and Harry could just about see Lucius Malfoy, because of his vibrant long blond hair, smirking with a proud look upon his face. He must be the cousin that Natalia was talking about. They definitely had the same smirk...He would have to be wary of them.

"Lucan, Natalia" She elegantly walked over to the stool and placed the hat on her head, it didn't shout out Slytherin straight away like it did with her brother, Natalia seemed to be arguing with the hat as her lips seemed to be moving silently and quickly. Harry swore he saw her hand go towards her wand before the hat shouted, "SLYTHERIN!"

She then went to go and sit with her brother, nodding to her cousin when their gazes met; because Harry was so focused on watching the other students at the Slytherin table acting towards the twins and Lucius Malfoy, Harry had missed it when Philip Marcus became a Hufflepuff. But their loud welcoming shouts brought him back to looking at the sorting.

"Mary, Susan" A girl with slim round glasses passed Harry and stumbled slightly as she made her way up. The hat shouted, "HUFFLEPUFF!" A few seconds later and she went to go and sit next to Philip.

"Morgan, Olivia" "RAVENCLAW!"

"Pearson, Rhys" "HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Remington, Theodore" A regal looking boy stepped up to the stool and when he placed the hat on his head, he looked around the hall with a bored expression on his face before lowering the hat fully on his head, and to Harry, he looked as if he didn't really want to be there. The hat finally shouted "SLYTHERIN!" and Theodore just swept a bit of hair that had fallen into his eyes when he took the hat off and walked off to the Slytherin table.

Surprisingly, it had only occurred to Harry that Professor McGonagall was reading out their names in alphabetical order. The letter 'W' was at the end of the alphabet and Harry didn't want to be left till last, standing on his own in front of all of these people.

"Riverty, Kaylee" "GRYFFINDOR!"

"Rose, Tianna" "RAVENCLAW!"

Looking towards Niccolò, who was looking slightly bored, Harry could have smacked himself, Niccolò was a Zabini and 'Z' was at the very end of the alphabet so he hadn't have anything to worry about. Although he felt slightly sorry for him as he had to stand alone.

"Ross, Lorraine" "HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Rozellina, Poppy" "HUFFLEPUFF!"

There was only four students left now to be sorted including him, and Harry felt very small standing in font of the rest of the school. He just wanted Professor McGonagall to call his name and get his sorting over and done with.

"Skye, Caleb" "RAVENCLAW!"

"Taylor, Jaiden" "GRYFFINDOR!"

"Walker, Harry" Oh it was him.

Harry slowly stepped forward, fully aware of everyone's eyes on him, he looked up as he lifted the hat off the stool and saw that Professor Dumbledore was gazing at him with a slightly hopeful and eager expression on his face as he stepped forward to be sorted. As Harry sat down on the stool, he didn't see Dumbledore lean forward a little in his seat.

The last thing Harry saw before he lowered the hat on his head was Niccolò, a reassuring smile on his dark face and a small supportive nod before he was looking at the inside of the hat and all Harry heard was silence until a voice whispered in his ear nearly making him jump up from the stool in shock.

"_Ah-ha three boys in a row this time. Well then, let's see where to put you...hmm...interesting...no...that can't be right..."_

'W-what cant be right? What's wrong?' Harry nervously thought back, not wanting to speak out loud to the rest of the school.

"_I'm not quite sure young one, it seems that I've sorted you before...but I can't have done..."_

'P-please d-don't send me back.' Harry stuttered to the hat. 'I want to stay here, everyone's nice and-'

"_Now, now there's no need to panic. I've seen what life you have at that place. But I do wonder...Mr Walker, I need you to clear your thoughts of everything and yes I know it's difficult sensing your panic but in order to sort you I need to see into your past. Focus on something calm, something blank. You may experience a headache after or later in the evening, if you do please go to the hospital wing."_

Harry, desperately wanting to stay here and be sorted tried to clear his mind but couldn't help thinking that none one else's sorting took this long.

"_Mr Walker, do as I say. Now." _

The hats sharp instructions knocked Harry from his thoughts and he immediately complied. He thought about a blank piece of paper. How crisp and clean it was before he began to draw on it. He focused on the smell and texture of the paper; he proffered the expensive thicker professional paper when he could afford it, as it was easier for the pencil to glide across and apply appropriate shading...

"_Well now that __**is**__ a surprise. Ah Mr Walker you are full of surprises aren't you. What a past you've had..."_

Harry was so startled when the hat suddenly spoke to him and interrupted him from his thoughts that he actually squeaked quietly and jumped in surprise. Harry had hoped that no one had heard him, but unfortunately Professor McGonagall had as she pulled the hat off his head.

The rest of the hall was surprisingly quite and a confused Harry turned a concerned looking Professor McGonagall that was looming over him.

"Are you quite alright Mr Walker? You've been under the hat for quite a while and I heard your noise of distress. Do you want-"

"_What on earth are you doing you daft woman? Put me back on the lads head immediately. Stop this tomfoolery! You want this sorting over do you not? Ah and I see that I still have one more to sort after Mr Walker. Well then, hurry up and be quick about." _

Professor McGonagall was so shocked that the hat had spoken to her like that, as was the staff and students; well Professor Dumbledore's eyes were twinkling in mirth and amusement at his flustered colleague. Although a majority of students were sniggering behind their hands, and Professor McGonagall could only nod and place the hat back on to Harrys head.

Meanwhile Harry had developed a slight headache from whatever the hat had done and he resisted the urge to go and close his eyes and lie down in a dark room.

"_Now that's better, never before have I been so rudely pulled of someone's head before..."_

Harry thought that if the hat was a person that it would be shaking its head in annoyance.

"_Sorry about the headache, seeing as your having it now means that it will stop in a while. Let's get to your sorting then..."_

'Hang on,' Harry mentally interrupted, 'aren't you going to tell me what you found out? You sounded positively giddy when you made me jump.'

"_Ah...I'm sorry about that Mr Walker, but it isn't my place to tell you. However I can assure you that you will find out everything. You are very important...yes...but now isn't the time, fate hasn't decided yet however, I'm feeling obliged to give you a hint. Please do consult the book you bought on hereditary, I would also suggesting consulting some of the books in the library when the time comes and follow through with your plans for discovering you ancestry." _

Harry was now extremely confused and frustrated, this hat knew more about him than he did and he wasn't going to tell him.

"_Truly, I'm sorry to not be able to tell you more and I can feel your upset and frustration but, alas, I must continue with the sorting. I fear we've been here far too long; this may be a new record. Now then let's see where to put you..."_

Harry took a deep breath and reluctantly accepted that the hat wouldn't tell him anything further.

"_Hmmm...difficult, very difficult...you're gaining courage, I see. Excellent mind, oh yes and a talent. Such talent...yet to be discovered, and there's a definite thirst to prove yourself and stand apart from the rest. But those who are important to you, you hold most dear and you don't take for granted. Hmmm...should I stay true to my original sorting before I changed my mind...And I see that you've already self analysed yourself, yes you could fit into any house. But, ultimately, I feel it has to be-SLYTHERIN!" _

The last word was shouted out to the entire hall and Harry shakily took the hat off and placed it back on the stool as he stood up. Harry looked down and saw that his previous plain black tie had changed to his new house colours; green and silver.

The rest of the students seemed to be jolted out of their stupor and began to clap unevenly, Harry made his way over to the Slytherin table and gratefully sat down next to Theodore Remington, who looked at Harry out of the corner of his eye but he didn't say anything.

The students at the Slytherin table looked at him with apprehension and suspicion; probably because he took the longest for the hat to sort...and that the hat had shouted at Professor McGonagall. They all probably wanted to know what was said to him.

Harry turned to watch Niccolò who was the last to be sorted and he was already seated on the stool when Harry looked at him, the sorting hat was silent for a few seconds before it shouted, "SLYTHERIN!"

Harry clapped along with the rest of his house, feeling very glad that his first friend had been sorted into the same house as himself, Harry grinned at Niccolò as he sat down next to him; and Niccolò in turn patted him on the shoulder with a casual smile.

Professor McGonagall rolled up the scroll and it vanished, she then picked up the sorting hat and pulled out her wand and vanished the stool before walking around the back of the head table and disappearing being a door.

Everyone turned to look at the high table as Professor Dumbledore stood up, wearing a purple, green and yellow swirled robe; he was beaming at the students with his arms opened wide in welcome.

"Welcome students to another year at Hogwarts! I won't keep you from the feast as I can see some of you starting to get impatient," Dumbledore indicated with a small smile and a bright twinkle in his eye to the middle of the Gryffindor table where Harry assumed he was referring to James and Sirius, and Harry was proved correct when they both chanted 'Food, food, food' until Professor Dumbledore continued with a chuckle "Yes, yes, save your singing until the end boys. Now then, I will leave the notices until the end of the feast. As for now I only have two words to say; tuck in." And with that he swept his hands out again before sitting back down and Harry gasped out loud with all of the other first years.

It was amazing; Harry had to stop his mouth from falling open in astonishment. The entire Slytherin table was filled with delicious smelling foods.

Harry had never seen so many different foods on one table before: roast beef, roast chicken, lamb and pork chops, roast turkey, sausages, ham, steak, bacon and different types of fish that Harry didn't know, roast potatoes, boiled potatoes, jacket potatoes, mash, chips, Yorkshire pudding, peas, carrots, green beans, sweetcorn, asparagus, ketchup and piping hot gravy.

Harry was dumfounded, he didn't have a clue what to pick, in the end, after watching everyone else pile up their plates Harry decided to serve himself roast beef, a couple of roast potatoes, a spoonful of peas and carrots, a nice dollop of the creamy looking mash and two Yorkshire puddings with a generous amount of gravy on top. Harry was defiantly going to gain some weight while at Hogwarts, the orphanage had never exactly starved Harry but he'd never been allowed to eat as much as he wanted.

Conversation at the Slytherin table was light and occasional as they ate their food. Harry hadn't spoken to anyone apart from Niccolò yet, but Theodore Remington politely asked Harry to pass him the boiled potatoes when their eyes caught and Harry obliged with a friendly smile and Harry swore that he got a small smile back along with a grateful nod of the head.

Wary of the mass amount of gravy on his plate, Harry carefully ate his food and turned to Niccolò who was tucking into a jacket potatoe, fish, sweetcorn and peas and started up a small conversation with him.

As it turns out, Niccolò is also a fan of muggle sports, just like Harry.

"Oh definitely Harry, not only does muggle sports keep you fit it's also fun and it can involve a lot of people. I mean, Quidditch is great and all, but it can get rather boring just sitting on a broom, especially if you're watching. I'd much rather play football or go running, wizards really need to get a grip and invent some other sports that we can do. What sports do you like Harry?" Niccolò asked, cutting up his fish and piling a few peas on his fork.

"I like pretty much everything, but I'm better at swimming and running than football. Did you here about Usain Bolt? He's been signed up for the Olympics and apparently he's the youngest ever _and _he's tipped to win the most gold medals," Harry excitedly told Niccolò, unknowing that Theodore Remington was listing with undisguised interest, "I bet that I'm faster than him." Harry stated, sitting up straight in his seat; causing Niccolò to snigger.

"No, I don't think so Harry...I'm definitely faster as I have the longer legs and more muscle mass than you." Niccolò assured Harry, placing his utensils on his golden plate.

"Ha, no way Niccolò," Harry playfully bantered, "I'm the faster one due to my high stamina. I'm excellent at enduring my physical and mental strength that allows me to run for a long time and speed up at just the right moment." Harry declared, swinging his fork around in enthusiasm causing a few older Slytherin's to send him reprimanding looks but he paid no attention to them.

Harry was having so much fun, he'd never talked to anyone like this before and he loved every minute of it. The more Harry talked with Niccolò, the more relaxed he felt and he was coming out of his shell.

"Ah-ha, well we'll have to see about that Harry. We'll have a race to decide who's the fastest. We'll have to explore the ground this weekend and pick the right spot." Niccolò suggested and Harry hurriedly agreed.

When everyone had eaten as much as they could, the remains of the food disappeared from their plates and a couple of minutes later the desserts appeared.

Blocks of ice-cream in all different types of flavours were pilled on top of each other and Harry suspected that there was a cooling charm on them as they didn't run or melt into each other. There was also: treacle tarts, apple pie, chocolate éclairs, chocolate muffins, profiteroles, trifle, jelly, rice pudding, an assortment of cakes, strawberries and cream, and several large bowls of fruit cocktail.

If Harry wasn't so full he might have tried more than one, but seeing as he had a lot of chocolate and sweets on the train Harry decided to go for something healthy. And so he opted for a spoonful fruit cocktail; only one spoonful as he hadn't had it before.

Peering into his bowl, Harry saw that he had an variety of diced fruits; peaches, pears, pineapples, whole grapes both red and green, and a couple of cherries.

Sticking his spoon inside his bowl, Harry cautiously brought it up to his mouth eying the clear fruit juice with uncertainty, much to the amusement of Niccolò who was grinning round his ice-cream.

Popping the spoon in his mouth Harry was silent for a couple of seconds before smiling and humming contentedly with the satisfying taste before digging his spoon in his bowl for another before stuffing it in his mouth.

"Enjoying your desert are we?"

The sudden voice from his other side caused him to choke slightly on the larger bits of fruit in his mouth, after a pat on the back Harry had turned to the owner of the voice. Completely red faced, Harry wiped his chin where a little of the sweet syrup of dripped down and faced Theodore Remington who maintained a straight face although the laughter in his eyes were easy to see.

"Yes thankyou, how about you?" Harry coolly asked but before he could answer Harry continued, "Woops, it looks like you've spilt some chocolate on your robes, just here." Pointing to his own robe to indicate where the stain was.

Theodore looked alarmed before looking to his own expensive looking robe, Harrys badly muffled laughter brought his head shooting straight up and he was looking to the teasing smile on Harry's face.

"Just kidding, the names Harry, Harry Walker." Harry introduced, offering his hand once he had deposited his spoon.

"Theodore Remington, or just Theo. It's a pleasure, Harry." Theodore said as he shook the proffered hand that belonged to a grinning Harry.

Harry seemed to be doing that a lot, grinning.

Harry and Theodore had begun to have a conversation about the lessons and which ones they were most looking forward to, and occasionally Niccolò would be enticed into the conversation but he was happy to just listen, nod at the appropriate times and eat his ice-cream.

Theodore never asked Harry of his blood status or his parentage, and for this Harry was very grateful for, but Harry suspected that there must be a reason for it; seeing as out of all of those who had been sorted into Slytherin, Niccolò was the only one to talk to him especially after hearing Natalia express her _reluctance _to be near Harry.

Just as Harry was reaching for another spoonful of fruit cocktail, he heard Natalia exclaimed loudly informing their end of the table as she talked, more like shouted, to someone who was sat in the middle of the Slytherin table. Niccolò just rolled his eyes and started mixing all different flavours of ice-cream together before timidly licking his spoon; his face twisted and hastily reached for his golden goblet and he began to drink deeply. Suppressing a laugh, Harry decided to listen subtly to the conversation, he had pretended that he hadn't noticed the stares that some of the older students were sending him so he didn't want to get caught, lifting the spoon to his lips trying to act as normal as possible.

"...of course but Alexander and I weren't originally going to attend Hogwarts you know, our father is here on a business trip and we all had to relocate from Canada, mother wasn't best pleased but she was easily pacified when father gave the go ahead to stay with Uncle Abraxas, which is Lucius's father by the way as mother and Uncle Abraxas are siblings. So hopefully, we'll only be here for the year." Natalia Lucan informed those who were avidly interested and openly listening. Her brother then started to speak,

"Yes that's right; imagine having to stay here for seven years. The state of the education is severely lacking and personally I can't wait to get back to Canada. They are more exclusive when selecting the students there. I pity Lucius for having to study here." Alexander stated pompously, looking around the Great Hall with disapproval.

Lucius Malfoy, upon hearing this turned to face Alexander fully, as he had obviously been listening to Natalia as he had nodded a few times in affirmation when she spoke.

"Why is that cousin? I wouldn't dream of wanting to go and study at the school that Aunt Asteria is thinking of sending you to, there the one for using corporal punishment. You know, the cane and such. I can't imagine you being let a floo call home to get the special balm to use on your _delicate_ backside." Lucius finished with a smirk while swirling his goblet elegantly with ease, obviously there was a story to go with the little insult or joke as Alexander had turned pink in the cheeks and ears.

The others around were sniggering, while Daniel Lesner, Harry thought it was, glared at everyone as he tried to save his friend from embarrassment.

"Oh stop it, it's not as if any of you haven't been on the receiving end of a spanking before. And I know some pretty good stories." Daniel stated threat clearly in the air which caused the others to sober up immediately.

Unfortunately, Natalia couldn't quite control herself as she was still sniggering in her hands; evidently because her shoulders were moving unevenly as she tried to calm her breathing.

Lucius saw this and once again smirked as he suddenly remembered what Grayson Travers had told him when his cousins had been sorted, Harry saw him clear his throat, holding a hand to his mouth before he turned his gaze to her.

"Oh Natalia, what is this that my dear friend Grayson tells me about you arguing with the sorting hat? You weren't going to be sorted into Gryffindor by any chance were you?" Lucius asked, lips quirking when he saw that Natalia stopped laughing straight away.

The reaction that Harry was expecting was a pale face and to start getting nervous or stutter, but what he wasn't expecting was Natalia to smile sweetly and happily tell those around her, as well as her cousin, what had happened.

"Of course not. You see Lucius, that blasted hat realised my extremely high intelligence that is far superior than your average Slytherin so it wanted to place me in Ravenclaw. Obviously, I declined but the hat was adamant that I was _destined _for Ravenclaw," Here, Harry heard Natalia scoff incredulously at the thought, "So, I regretfully informed the hat that if it attempted to sort me into any house other than Slytherin, it would have a few, how should I say it...disfigurements to it's appearance." Natalia finished off with an evil grin.

Lucius merely raised an eyebrow, smirked and raised his goblet while Harry saw that Alexander was quizzing her sister on what she had threatened to do to the hat.

Harry turned to Niccolò, only to find that he also had decided to listen in on their conversation. Their eyes met and Niccolò raised an eyebrow lifting yet another spoon of ice-cream into his mouth from a fresh bowl.

"Well, at least that's revealed some good news then. The Lucan twins won't be staying here for long, I've only met them a couple of times at business gatherings and they're a right pair of posh stuck up little spoilt brats. Trust me, my brother even says that Lucius doesn't even like them half the time they're around." Niccolò shrugged before he protested loudly when all the desserts suddenly disappeared; including the spoon with a large dollop of mint ice-cream on it.

Harry just laughed and patted his new friend consolingly on the back, "Well, that shows you then doesn't it? You shouldn't waste time messing with your food, making all them weird concoctions."

Harry and a slightly pouting looking Niccolò turned to face the Headmaster, who had stood up and walked to a golden stand with a large decorative owl on the front. Professor Dumbledore clapped his hands twice and everyone in the hall fell silent.

"Thank you. Now that you are all happily fed and watered," Here Niccolò snorted to himself causing Harry to fight a grin as a few first years closest to them sent them funny looks.

"I have a fair few start of term notices to give you. Firstly, the first years should be aware that the Forbidden Forest is forbidden to all students. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well." Harry swore that Dumbledore's twinkling eyes flickered to the middle of the Gryffindor table where James, Sirius, Peter and the others were sitting.

"Secondly, Professor McGonagall has asked me to remind you that no magic is to be used on the corridors. Now, there are a few changes in staffing this year. Professor Flitwick has returned from his travels and will be resuming his position as Charms teacher. Let's welcome back Professor Flitwick."

Harry saw a very tiny goblin looking wizard wave his hand excitedly and everyone clapped politely and a few older students whistled. This teacher was obviously well liked and respected.

"The next change in staff is that Pomona Sprout, some of you might have seen last year covering Herbology lessons, has permanently took over from Herbert Beery. So, Hufflepuff also has a new head of house. Welcome Professor Sprout."

A slightly plump looking witch stood up and bowed her head before quickly sitting back down, Harry thought that she had a kind, friendly look about her as he clapped along with the rest of the school.

"And lastly, Professor Korbin has taken on an apprentice. So when you head out for your flying lessons, you may see Rolanda Hooch around the castle. Be warned students, Miss Hooch will have the same authority as a Professor."

As Professor Dumbledore said this, Rolanda Hooch stood up and nodded her head just like Professor Sprout. Miss Hooch was possibly in her early twenties and Harry suddenly saw that she had yellow eyes, Harry would behave around her. She could probably spot trouble as quick as a hawk.

When the clapping died down, Dumbledore smile and opened his arms like he had done at the start of the feast.

"And now before we all go off to bed, let's all sing the school song. Everyone pick a tune and off we go!" And with that, a smiling Dumbledore waved his hand and a long ribbon materialised out of thin air and the words began to appear.

While this was happening, Harry noticed that some of the teachers' smiles had become rather fixed; Harry swore that he saw Professor McGonagall actually roll her eyes. But the Slytherins' were openly glaring at Dumbledore.

The school then bellowed:

'Hogwarts Hogwarts Hoggy Warty Hogwarts  
Teach us something please  
Whether we be old and bald or young with scabby knees  
Our heads could do with filling with some interesting stuff  
For now they're bare and full of air  
Dead flies and bits of fluff  
So teach us things worth knowing  
Bring back what we've forgot  
Just do your best we'll do the rest and learn until our brains all rot'

Everyone finished at different times, although the majority of the Slytherin's had chosen to remain silent; glaring at those who had sung along.

Only James, Sirius, Remus and Peter were left singing; they stood up and started swaying to a slow version of the school song; although Harry noticed that Remus was reluctant to stand up but Sirius had grabbed his arm and hauled him up to his feet.

Everyone clapped when Dumbledore conducted the last lines, wiping his eyes. His face was crinkled in wrinkles as he smiled in happiness.

"Well done everyone. Now, off to bed. Prefects will lead the first years. I bid you all goodnight." With that said the entire hall bustled in movement.

The Slytherin first years followed a prefect called Dylan Demzar, as he introduced himself, and he led them out of the Great Hall and away from where the rest of the school was heading.

Typically, Alexander and Natalia were at the front and Harry followed Theodore, with Niccolò behind him.

They were led further down into the castle as it started to get slightly cooler and the stone looked darker, older, and they left the noise of the rest of the school behind them.

After a few more minutes of walking, Dylan Demzar led them to a stop. Going on his toes, Harry could only just peer across Theodore's shoulder and Harry saw that they'd come to a halt in front of a large portrait of a regal looking man with grey hair. He had a cane in his hand, and he was sat in a large emerald and silver chair in front of a black marble fireplace. Harry could see what appeared to be a snake slithering around in the portrait.

"This is the entrance to the Slytherin Common room, each week we have a different password so make sure you know it. If you don't then it's your problem. The password for this week is _Survival_."

As soon as Prefect Demzar said the password the portrait nodded gracefully and the portrait swung openly silently.

Harry entered the common room and a double height atrium carved in smooth grey stone was presented to the rest of the first years; the space was somewhat magnified due to the light being reflected off the numerous green lamps hanging on the walls and high ceilings, opposite the magnificent black marble fireplace were several black and green sofas and chairs embodied with little silver snakes into the fabric which seemed to glisten in the firelight, the sofas were surrounded by several coffee tables.

Looking past everyone's heads Harry saw a suspended sculptural dark oak staircase which was carved with snakes, again. _There definitely seemed to be a theme of snakes going on here_ Harry thought and the snakes were entwined all the way up the banister.

Harry looked up and saw a balcony sticking out slightly over the common room.

Dylan must have notice all of their stares and so he had informed them all that it was a private library for the Slytherins and it held several copies of all the assigned textbooks for every year so that if anyone lost their copy, they could borrow it here instead of trekking all the way up to the library.

Looking to the far right hand side of the common room, Harry saw that there were 4 sliver and black velvet chaise lounges and each had a small table and lamp beside it.

To in the far left of the common room, there was an area that looked like to be a small study area as Harry could see several large desks with new ink pots and spare quills piled neatly in the centre of the table; just waiting to be used.

There were lots of interesting statues and figurines dotted around that common room and an expensive looking clock decorated the mantelpiece over the fireplace.

Harry's inventory of the common room was interrupted by the prefect who had led them all down.

"Right then, gather round here you lot, hurry up you three at the back; I've got a prefect meeting to attend to soon. Now there are seven boys and six girls so, for the girls there are two dorms with three beds; go up the corridor then up the stairs to the first floor and it's the second and third doors to the right. And the boys, oh we have an odd number." Dylan paused here for a moment, seemingly trying to remember something.

"Ah yes, that's it. We'll have one set of three in one dorm and a set of four boys in the other. Your dorm is up the stairs to the second floor and it's the third and fifth door to your left. Don't look at me like that; the Slytherin dormitories look bigger than you think, we have the whole of the underground castle for ourselves. Now then, go on off to bed. Don't be late down here in the morning; our head of house is going to talk to you before you head off to breakfast so get down here for 7:30 at the latest." With that said, the prefect swept out of the common room through the portrait.

The girls rushed off to pick their room as did half of the boys which left Harry, Niccolò and Theodore left ; _so hopefully_ Harry thought, _that the three of them would be sharing the room that held only three beds._

Harry and the other two boys walked slowly down the corridor, following the prefects instructions, not needing to speak to one another.

The comfortable silence ended when they came to their floor, it appeared that the other boys had taken the third door, due to the loud noises coming from within, and that the names of the occupants were inscribed in sliver on the dark oak door.

They walked a little further down the corridor until they came to the fifth and last door on the left; it too had their names inscribed in silver;

_First Year Dormitory-Boys_

_Theodore Remington_

_Harry Walker_

_Niccolò Zabini_

Seeing as Harry was the one closest to the door, Harry cautiously opened it and surprisingly the door was quite heavy to push open and he was amazed at what he saw. Hogwarts just seemed to get better and better.

Harry's new room was like a mini version of the common room but it hadn't lost any of its magnificence. There were three four poster beds and a beautiful dark oak 5 draw armoire placed between each bed, effectively separating them a good decent space apart.

Looking to the right, there was another door about 150meters away from the main door where they were all currently stood which led to their private bathroom; due to the sign 'Bathroom'.

The beds were more to left side of the room, Harry quickly understood why. There was a small fireplace in their room, a black marble one; just like the one in the common room.

Harry grinned and thought _this is so cool!_

A couple of large empty shelves lined the walls, just waiting to be filled with all their school textbooks.

Finally entering the room, Harry let Theodore and Niccolò choose their beds first. Theodore chose the bed at the far left, Niccolò opted for the one in the middle and so Harry took the bed to the far right. Their respected trunks popped to the ends of the beds immediately.

Harry was feeling all of a sudden very heavy and exhausted as he opened his trunk to pull out his pyjamas, Harry decided to wear his new navy blue long cotton pyjamas in the hope that they would keep him warm in the slightly chilly part of the castle despite the heat from the fire; and so he slowly changed into them.

The four green lights were slowly dimming as they all got closer for being ready for bed.

Lifting up the dark green and silver bed sheets, Harry quickly snuggled into the soft mattress and pulled the covers up to his chin. Closing his eyes Harry sighed quietly and whispered to the other two boys,

"Night guys." He said, yawning at the end.

"Night." Theodore said before Harry heard him the rustle of the bed sheets indicating that he'd turned over.

"Night Theo, Harry." Niccolò muttered, sleep thick in his voice.

That night Harry felt more at home at Hogwarts and he slept peacefully and happily in an undisturbed sleep.

* * *

And there you have it! Thankyou all for reading and please leave me a review letting me know what you thought :)

Next update, maybe at the weekend or sometime next week.

Here is a question that I was asked;

Why would Lucius want to talk with Harry? _Severus told Lucius about the boy that saw him selling the venomous tentactualla leaves and worried slightly that he would tell somebody so Lucius only wanted to make sure that Harry didn't squeal on him. You'll see more of this in the next chapter_

The Sorting Hat song: A mixture off all three songs from the books.

Total of students in the year: 47

Slytherin: 7 boys and 6 girls =13 students

Gryffindor: 7 boys and 5 girls = 12 students

Ravenclaw: 6 boys and 5 girls = 11 students

Hufflepuff: 6 girls and 6 boys = 12 students


	11. The Potters

**Authors Note: **I'm so sorry for the late update, my life has just been hectic what with starting University and the workload we've been given and with important exams coming up I've hardly had time for writting anything. I know that this chapter is short, but I'm not happy with the chapter that was going to come before this of Harry doing lessons etc...so I've sent it to a friend to look over and should get it back by the end of the week for me to post. This chapter was originally going to be posted after the big long chapter with Harry starting his lessons and the important events that occur leading up to christmas at Hogwarts but I wanted to give you all something to read and this fits in quite well here.

**Second Note: **Thankyou all for being patient with with and I'm amazed with the amount of story alerts,favorites and author alerts (115 since the last chapter) and as always a very special thanks to those who have taken the time to review. Also I'd like to say thanks to dead feather, after reading your review I have decided that it would be wise to state in the summary that Harry ends up in the marauders era. Thanks for the suggestion.

And now, on to the chapter...although it it short, it should put you on until the end of the week.

Harry Potter in a Different World Chapter 11- The Potters

_Cheshire, Alderly Edge, Potter Manor 00:56_

Charles Potter could be found sat at his desk in his personal study, with mounds of books and odd bits of parchment with various annotations and scribbles scattered around him. One pile was dangerously near the edge of the large desk and wavered slightly.

In the dim light that the candles were providing, Charles was sat slightly hunched over his desk, head bowed with his left hand burried in his hair, the other hand turning the page of yet another thick book. Several quills lay around the desk where they had been dropped or in some cases thrown down in frustration. His black cloak was thrown in haste on the back of the red and gold armchair in the corner of the room; his deep red wine waistcoat was open revealing a white dress shirt that was untucked with the top three buttons undone and his tie was somewhere under the bits of parchment.

He sighed deeply before closing the book with annoyance and dissatisfaction. Charles closed his eyes and let his head fall back against the back of his chair as the chimes in the grandfather clock started to ring.

And this is how his wife found him.

Dressed in a red cotton dressing gown, hair slightly out of place and a lit wand in hand; Helen Potter approached her husband.

"Charles, is everything alright?" Helen quietly asked her husband, moving closer to the desk. Her slippers making no sound on the wooden floors.

"Hmmm" Charles breathed as he exhailed, leaning forwards once more to sort through various bits of parchment.

"Charles," Helen said in slight annoyance, "Do you know what time it is? It's one O'clock in the morning and you said you were coming to bed shortly."

"I am" Charles insited as he reached for a quill. "I'll be no longer than fifteen minutes dear, you go back up to bed. I'll be up soon."

"That's what you said nearly half an hour ago, come on now. Whatever your doing can wait until morning...what on earth are you doing at this time anyway? If it's that thing you mentioned to me last week about Benson wanting a favour then you can tell him-"

"No, no Helen it's not that," Charles interrupted his wife as he crossed something out quite firmly.

"Then what is it?" Helen nearly shouted.

"This balsted family tree I've been researching and putting together. It just doesn't make sense. My aunt Elvina's three children are on the Potter tapestry with their children and not one of them are named Harry, Harold or Harrison. Peyton died four years ago and there's little probablilty that he sired any offspring as he prefered his own gender according to those three letter there." Charles stated as he pointed to three long looking letters.

"And what about the other child of Elvina? Was it Lindsey that was disinherited?" Helen asked, looking over her husbands work.

"Yes, but there's another thing! There is no record of her since she was blasted off the family tree, the last recorded sighting of her was when she ordered a one-way portkey to America. And nothing since then..."

"Charles, I know that your set on proving that Harry is a Potter, but your taking this a bit too far. Now is not the time to be doing all of this, you'll make yourself ill...staying up merlin knows how long at night and well into the morning and I'm telling you that I will not stand for it! Yes, I care for Harry too, but for now he is safe at Hogwarts and away from that dreadful orphanage-" But Helen was cut off before she could finish.

"Don't you get it? He is a Potter! I just have to have official and trustworthy proof, he shouldn't be at that godforsaken orphanage anyway. For merlins sake woman if you cared about that little boy-"

"Don't you 'woman' me Charles Henry Leonidas Potter!" Helen fumed, "I am your wife, don't you dare speak to me like that and accuse me off not caring!"

Charles winced at the use of his full name and stood up to comfort his wife.

"I'm sorry dear, it's just getting to me..." Charles said softley as he hugged Helen.

"No it's not," Helen snapped, but there was no real bite in her words as her husband rubbed slow circles in her lower back, "Your sleep dreprived and worrying over this too much."

They stood in silence together, just holding each other. Helen could feel the tention leave her husbands body as they embraced each other; the sound of the clock ticking in the background.

"Charlie," Helen started, using his nickname that never failed to make him smile, "What about using a potion? Get some of his hair, blood, nail or something..." She trailed off as they looked at each other, Charles shook his head softly in the nagative.

"You know that it's considered Dark Magic Helen" Charles said as he went back to his desk, sitting down heavily and reaching for a quill once again.

"Don't stay up too late dear," Helen sighed, "You have a meeting at ten O'Clock with the Goblins, lunch with me at twelve thirty and a meeting at the Ministry at quater past one. You've also got to reply to those letters that came today or should I say yesterday? Oh, and you'll have to pick up your set of formal robes from the tailors as we've been invited to dinner at the Richards tonight."

"Yes dear" Charles mumbled without looking up.

Helen headed towards the door, she tapped the nearest candle that was on the wall twice with her wand and all of the lights in the room lit up to an acceptable brightness that wouldn't strain the eyes.

"You do hear me don't you Charles? Not to stay up too late, I'll give you fifteen minutes to come up to bed or I'll be sending Bingo to fetch you." Helen said with a wide knowing smile and she wasn't dissapointed when she heard Charles snort with laughter.

"Must you send that house elf? And what sort of person allow a house elf to be called Bingo?" Charles muttered the last, a grin on his face, not expecting his wife to have heard.

"A man, Charles. That is who lets a four year old mischievous little boy to name a house elf Bingo." Helen laughed, fondly remembering the memory of how her son named the elf in question.

Helens soft, musical laughter echoed the corridors of the near empty manor as she made her way to bed. Charles chuckling deeply as he packed up and cleared his desk; intenet on being in bed before the fifteen minute time frame was up.

No one would want to be escorted up to bed by the stern house elf named Bingo.

* * *

Thankyou very much for reading and please leave me a review :)

The next chapter, which will be longer I promise you, and it should be uploaded by the end of the week.

As always, here are the answers to the questions asked so everyone can know;

1) Will Natalia have a big role? _Im not sure, I wasnt planning for her to play a big role, but if you wanted to recommend or suggest anything then I will take note of what you suggest. I may/my not choose to include your suggestion but If it do then I will acredit you for the initial idea :)_

2) Can he get a break? Or will it all be plied on him? _Things will be get better for Harry after christmas, I promise!_

**Again, thankyou all for reading and I hope you all had a Happy Christmas (if you celebrate it) and a belated Happy New Year!**


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